Hedgerows and Hives (or Sloe Gin, Blackberry Gin & the Attack of the Wasps)

Being watched while I pick blackberries (by this curious Muntjac Deer)

I love a September holiday because it lengthens my summer. I tell myself that autumn doesn't arrive until my summer holiday is over - and so, in this household, autumn officially began this year on 22nd September. And it really does feel like autumn now.  The nights are drawing in, the Swallows have all left, and leaves are starting to cover the smallholding.  We've also begun to bring the logs in and light the fire each evening. I love the fires - but I'd still rather have the long, warm, summer evenings outside.

A downside of taking a September holiday is that I've already missed days of blackberry picking. We eat lots of blackberries throughout the year, so I have to find the time as soon I as come home to pick several tubs-full for freezing.  I also have to pick lots of sloes, too, for Sloe Gin, because we love to drink this at Christmas. I posted a recipe for this last September, but I've decided this autumn to make it sweeter by adding more sugar (by increasing the sugar to 1lb) - because each year we seem to like our drinks sweeter and sweeter...

Last year's Sloe Gin at Christmas

I've also made some Blackberry Gin.  I've not made or even drunk this before, but I like the sound of it. Blackberry Gin is made in a similar way to Sloe Gin, except the blackberries are strained first.

Blackberry Gin

Ingredients:

4lb Ripe Blackberries
3lb Sugar
Gin

Method:

Place the blackberries and sugar in a bowl in a warm place until the juice is drawn from the berries (as a guide, this can take about 8 hours in an airing cupboard).
Strain through a jelly bag/muslin/strainer.
For every pint of juice add a pint of gin.  Mix well and bottle.
Store for around 3 months and drink at Christmas!

NB Apparently, if you add a touch of hot water to this it helps to ease a sore throat!!

Fortunately, there's been plenty of sunshine since I came home from holiday, so I've been able to go out into the fields and forage for berries, taking Harry with me. He does get bored by it all, but...lovely dog...he's very patient...

The fields seem so quiet now I can no longer hear the Swallows, Swifts, Chiffchaffs etc. And there are very few butterflies around, too - mainly a few Whites and Speckled Woods.  But I am seeing Small Coppers for the first time this year...

Small Copper Butterfly

After blackberries and sloes - apple picking is next - and there are lots of apples this year. We have a large apple crop in the orchard we planted a few years ago...

A corner of the new apple orchard

All our trees in the orchard are surrounded by pallets after we acquired lots for free some time ago. These protect the trees from our sheep and the local rabbits - and although they're a bit ugly, they've worked really well.

A few of our neighbours have also very kindly invited us to pick apples from their own trees (as they don't want them), so we're currently doing the rounds of gardens and orchards.  But now we have to find a place to store them all. We do have several stacked apple crates, but I'm not sure this will be enough, so the apples that are already beginning to spoil are quickly fed to the sheep, chickens and geese.  Most of the good apples will go to make apple juice.

Bees and Wasps

In late summer, wasps often attack weaker honeybee colonies to steal their honey.  All honeybee colonies have guard bees at the entrance of their hive to see off any intruders, but wasps are very persistent and aggressive. While the strong colonies will fight off the wasps, the weaker ones can become overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, this is what happened in my apiary this summer.

 

I had some bees in a nucleus hive (a smaller hive) because I was in the process of introducing a new queen bee to a colony - and according to beekeeping wisdom it's always best to introduce a new queen to a small colony first i.e. so they can become used to her - and then she can be introduced to a larger one.

But, this time, my small colony turned out to be a weak colony - and so it was unable to fight off the wasps.

I discovered what had happened when I lifted the roof off of my nucleus hive expecting bees - only to see a few wasps helping themselves to the honey.  I hadn't realised wasps were around the apiary because I hadn't seen them, but there must have been a nest nearby (I had seen them at another apiary and put out lots of jam-jar wasp traps, but I hadn't seen a single wasp around the nucleus hive).

I'm often told that wasps are good for the garden, and that everything in nature has its place, but like other beekeepers, I have another opinion of them altogether...

 Grrrrr...................................

Heath Fritillary, Beech Leaf Noyau and Blackberry Vinegar

Heath Fritillary

I've really wanted to see a rare butterfly this year, but knew that I would have to go and hunt for one because there wouldn't be any chance of finding one here on the smallholding. So - on a warm, sunny afternoon last week  - I visited Hockley Woods where I knew the Heath Fritillary could be found.  This lovely butterfly was on the brink of extinction when it was re-introduced into habitats that have been carefully managed for it (although - even now - it only exists in a few locations, which are a couple of woods and immediate areas in the south east and a few areas in Devon and Cornwall).  Hockley Woods, near Southend, is my nearest area to discover this little butterfly.

I'd read that the Heath Fritillary loves Common Cow Wheat and Foxgloves and flies from mid-June into July. I also know it's a sun-loving butterfly and it can only be seen in the woodland glades on warm, sunny days.  Hockley Woods is a bit of drive from where I am and when I first arrived I had this feeling I'd be looking for a needle in a haystack. But, surprisingly, I saw one - and then another - fairly quickly.  They really are beautiful butterflies - and I was lucky enough to take a few pics before they flew off. 

I love the way this butterfly is settled right in the middle of this buttercup...

I'm not sure I'll get to see another butterfly as rare as the Heath Fritillary this summer, but I'm certainly hoping to see some more of the less common ones over the coming weeks.

Foraging: Beech Leaf Noyau...

When I went on the foraging course in May, I tried some Beech Leaf Noyau and loved it - so I decided to make my own to be ready to drink at midsummer. I made two bottles - and I have to report back that they're definitely going down well here.

Beech Leaf Noyau is a liqueur made from fresh, young beech leaves soaked in gin with sugar and brandy added. The recipe I used is as follows:

Fill a large jar almost to the top with young beech leaves.  Pour some gin to just cover the leaves (I used a bottle of gin) and rest for 2-3 weeks.  Then strain off the gin, and for every pint add 14oz of sugar dissolved in half a pint of boiling water. Then add a dash of brandy (I used a large glass and a bit of brandy, so I'm guessing this has given the drink its final, golden colour). Mix and then pour into bottles when cold.

...and Blackberry Vinegar

I'd been going through the freezer (clearing out the remainder of last year's fruit and veg to make space for this year's) when I came across a tub of blackberries.  I'm not keen on eating them for dessert at the moment (we've just started on the strawberries), so I've made some Blackberry Vinegar as a salad dressing (ideal - as we've just begun the lettuces).

I've used this recipe:

Soak 1lb blackberries in a pint of white wine vinegar in a covered bowl for 4 days.  Stir occasionally during that time. After 4 days, strain and measure the juice.  Add 1lb sugar for every pint of juice. Heat the sugary juice gently in a pan until all the sugar dissolves and then bring to the boil. Let it cool and pour into bottles.

I prefer to make my own salad dressings and this summer I'm keen to try out several new and different ideas (hopefully some of these will be through more foraging).

Rose Pics

Finally, I thought I'd just add a couple of pics of some of my roses, because they're looking so gorgeous at the moment;

Ferdinand Pichard...

A lovely standard rose...

This pink rose was already climbing over the front of the cottage when we moved in. I still don't know what variety it is, but it has a beautiful scent. We've since built a pergola before the cottage and it's one of the flowers that now romps all over this (so we walk under it to the front door).

I really must find out what it is!

Foraging in a Forest

Beech tree in Rendlesham Forest

I often go foraging in the local countryside, but I only gather the more familiar wild foods such as elderflowers, blackberries, ramsons, sloes etc.  I don't know as much about wild foods as I'd like to, and so I've been missing out on many of the hedgerow plants that I could use in a meal.  I'm also aware that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing in foraging; especially when many of the hedgerow plants can look like each other.  So, to improve my knowledge, I've just been on a short course. I can only learn so much on a single course, but it has taught me about a few more plants to gather on a foraging trip.  The course I joined was run by Food Safari and held in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk.  Our group wandered along a forest path identifying plants and tasting them, before gathering leaves to make a salad.  Amazingly, on such a dull, cloudy day, the rain actually held off (I think it would have been pretty miserable in a downpour).

The first food we identified was a fungus, with the common name of  jelly ear, which was growing on an elder tree.  I'm often foraging food from elder trees but the food has always been the flowers or the berries; I didn't know about the fungus. I think the fungi we saw on this particular tree weren't fresh enough to eat, and in any case they have to be cooked (so, to be honest, I've still to find out what they really taste like).

We also gathered the common plant chickweed...

Chickweed can be added with young leaves from different trees and plants such as hawthorn, hedgerow garlic (or garlic mustard/Jack-by-the-hedge) and wild herbs to make a forest salad. I find some of these leaves have a mild taste so a good dressing is definitely needed. Fresh, young leaves are important as "older" leaves can taste bitter. On our course, we tasted hedgerow garlic in a pesto with Parmesan cheese and ground almonds.  I was a bit hesitant to try this, because I don't usually like almonds, but it was really delicious.

We also made up some woodsman's tea with nettles and pine needles. I have to admit that I've never fancied trying stinging nettles in anything, although I have been told that nettle beer is good.  But one drink I was keen to try was some already prepared beech leaf noyau.  I've heard of this and always fancied making it - and now I'm definitely going to, because it was very good.  Beech leaf noyau is a liqueur that combines fresh beech leaves, gin, sugar and brandy - and I'll be gathering some beech leaves in the next few days to make it.  It should be ready to drink in the next few weeks, so I hope to post my results of my own concoction, then!

The foraging course lasted about two hours.  David and I both went on it, and we've come away with some new ideas for recipes to try over the summer.  I'm also keen to improve my (still) limited knowledge of wild food.

On the smallholding

Back at home, our rhubarb-in-a-barrel is ready.  I've promised myself I'm going to explore some new rhubarb recipes for it this year (although I'm still tempted to fall back on crumble and fool, because they're such favourites...)

In the trees and hedges, the summer visitors are still returning, like this little whitethroat...

The "local" cuckoo came back at last on 7 May (which is much later than usual) making a dramatic entrance by flying right over my head calling loudly. It's the first cuckoo I've heard this year, which I think ties in with other reports that they're becoming much rarer.

And this is my first sight of an orange tip on the smallholding this year...

And a speckled wood by the beehives...

I'm behind with my weeding in the cottage garden patch, but now everything is on hold because Pip has decided to nest amongst the lupins...

I'm sure she's crushing one of my favourite perennials - and I think from her sideways glance she knows that too. The wire fence at the back, which she's now bent, was supposed to keep her out. Still, if she's happy, I'll just have to live with it for a bit.

 

The apple blossom is out at last, and my bees are collecting the pollen from it...

Bluebells

Finally, I had to include more pics of my local bluebell wood, because I can't get over how stunning the bluebells look this year...