Harvest Of The Hedgerows

We are trying to make sure we take a walk every day. This does not always happen, but there are some lovely places to see round the village. Sometimes The Daily Walk is a purposeful trot to the Village Shop, to fetch milk, use the Post Office, or pick up the Parish Magazine [I've just had my second article published!] 

On other days, we literally walk "round the houses" and I take note of which flowers and shrubs seem to grow well in the Norfolk clay. Rudbeckias and fuchsias are very popular, as is Photinia [Red Robin] Also there is a lot of montbretia [my SIL tells me this is often called crocosmia nowadays]

But more often than not, we go out of the village to the east or south, and walk through the lanes and down the footpaths. And these past few weeks, we have been foraging blackberries and sloes. I also collected a few apples from a "free- help yourself" tray at the end of one drive.

The blackberries, sloes and apples went into "Hedgerow Jam" - I made four jars. I shan't be giving these away, as they have stones in, and need to be eaten with care!

I've also put blackberries on my breakfast yogurt, and atop sponge puddings. There's a small batch of sloe gin maturing in the cupboard too.

Whilst I was in London, my bro kindly invited Bob over for an evening meal - and gave him a bag of apples. Last time we all had a meal together, Marion presented a challenge "When we dine like this, we should cook a dessert recipe we haven't done before"

Liz has been cooking galettes this summer, and I did do a small, savoury tomato and goat's cheese one a couple of weeks ago. Just enough for two with a big salad alongside. I used my own home grown tomatoes and chives!

But here is my first sweet galette cooked for the family - with blackberries   from the hedgerows, and Adrian's apples. Served with a jug of custard alongside.       A Proper Autumnal Pudding