Truly Madly Autumn

I think that we are rather good at embracing every season of the year! I finished the last of our summer tomatoes just yesterday and am marvelling at the splendid offerings that are proudly displayed in the garden. Above is the crown of this year’s purple Brussel sprouts – I do hope they keep their colour when I cook them…

Whilst the days are shorter, with only an occasional chill in the air, it’s great to get some gardening jobs done whilst the soil is still warm and the sun is still shining (a bit). Down at the allotment we’ve got veg in 12 beds; some are the ends of this year’s crops – I’ve got potatoes, carrots, parsnips, leeks and sprouts for Christmas dinner, and some are newly planted to overwinter for a head start in spring.

Half term is a good marker in the calendar to get broad beans, onions and garlic in the ground, they start growing over the coming weeks and slow down as temperatures drop. Garlic in particular benefits from a cold spell underground – it helps the cloves to multiply into a bulb. This year, I’m trying an autumn pea variety as well, Pea Meteor, they’ve already started to sprout and I’m looking forward to an earlier harvest than the spring sown crop. Seeing established crops in most of the beds in the new year ensures a good momentum of both planting and harvesting.

I’ve been waiting for the mistletoe to flower and fruit since Andy gave me a special gift for Valentine’s Day 2018.

Whilst we often associate it with Christmas and New Year, the perfect time to propagate mistletoe is February, when the berries are ripe for cultivation. Our grow your own kit came from the English Mistletoe Shop; we carefully selected a few branches on different apple trees and simply followed the instructions. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant, feeding from it’s host, so we need to keep an eye that it doesn’t get out of control. We deliberately planted it on lower branches, making it easy to harvest, and can’t wait to incorporate sprigs into our festive decorations this year.

Due to regular requests, I’m designing a brand new course for next year. It will be over two consecutive days to teach some of the artisan food techniques that can’t easily be completed in one day.

The additional day will allow ‘real time’ teaching of hard cheeses and sourdough bread, along with extra treats such as handmade butter, sourdough crumpets and super creamy Buratta cheese. I’m enjoying the recipe testing and look forward to publishing the course over the next week or so. As a quick heads up, I’m thinking of a Friday & Saturday (so only one day of annual leave needed) and February half term (for the school staff that like to join us), more details to follow…

Coming up at Hen Corner:

November

• Introduction to Making Bread – Tuesday 12th

Christmas Courses!

 

+ Making Linen Christmas Crackers

At Hen Corner: Tuesday 26th & Thursday 28th November

Plus Linen Christmas Cracker Workshops at: Page 8 Hotel, Trafalgar Square Friday 22nd Nov, 6-8pm

+ Making Christmas Puddings – Stir Up Sunday

At Hen Corner: Sunday 24th November

+ Making Christmas Wreaths

At Hen Corner: Thursday 5th & Saturday 7th December

Plus Christmas Wreath Workshops at:

Page 8 Hotel, Trafalgar Square Friday 29th Nov, 6-8pm

Chiswick Flower Market Sunday 1st Dec, 1-2.30pm

The Bootlegger Vault, Richmond Wednesday 4th Dec, 5-7pm

+ Making Christmas Food Gifts

At Hen Corner: Tuesday 10th December

+ Introduction to Christmas Baking

At Hen Corner: Tuesday 17th December and Wednesday 18th December

Don’t forget – if you’ve been on a course before, email for your 20% discount!

Other news:

• The figs are coming thick and fast, both at home and the allotment, those that don’t go straight into my mouth are going into Fig and Orange Jam (my favourite)
• Romanesco Cauliflowers look like alien spaceships! Our garden crop are quite a bit ahead of those on the plot
• We’ve now reached that time of year when the chickens significantly slow down with their laying of eggs, in fact I think that only one of the sixteen is actually still pushing them out!

Jobs for the week:

• Harvest our pumpkins and winter squashes
• Replant the rhubarb crowns giving them lots of space and light
• Make sloe gin for Christmas

Gosh, the evenings start earlier now the clocks have gone back, do you have any traditions to cheer up the dark nights?

I hope to see you soon,

Sara