Jungle & plums

We've been very busy the last couple of weeks - hence lack of posts. The weather this year has been very strange with spells of warm - even hot- weather mixed with torrential rain and hail. A couple of nights ago the temperature went down to 2 degrees C.

The wet and warm has resulted in shrubs, trees grass and of course weeds growing like mad. It really is a jungle and whenever it's not pouring I've been out hacking and pulling at the overgrowth. Not sure I'm winning!

It's harvesting time -  plums are beginning to come nicely now and the runner beans. We have 5 very large marrows one of which has been made into a marrow / tomato / onion / garlic / herb mix (version of ratatouille) which we freeze and eat with pork and sausages during the winter. At least one of the others will be chutney.

Plums from various trees

Plums are a delight. They're great just raw off the tree and gorgeous cooked. I did our favourite plum crumble on Friday and last night I cooked plums cut in half with a tablespoon of demerara sugar, a couple of cinnamon sticks and covered with our own elderberry wine. Delicious!