A walk.....

We've been replacing the rotten windows here at The Larches. We thought we might ignore this job till another year but the repairs to the cracked exterior brickwork exposed the sponge like wood and our fate was sealed, or is it unsealed?

The dirt and dust of the past months building and DIY is phenomenal. I'm almost able to block it out, preferring to wipe the kitchen surfaces clean just before preparing a meal. Boy, does black granite love a bit of dust!!

In early summer when friends and relatives enquired about visiting I had no idea we'd be in such a pickle. Last week, at the true height of pickledom, The Entrepreneur (best pal ever) came to stay for a few days and as she waved goodbye, my sis and family were en route.

Fortunately the weather was broadly fine, if you don't count the insane thunder storms on the Friday and Saturday!!

On Monday The Entrepreneur, the Sproglets and I took a stroll out through the local Common Land - Catherton, in baking heat. The 7yo shushed us as we walked through the bee infested heather. 'Shush, the bees are working,' he informed us. I even spotted a common lizard.

We tiptoed on, down a gentle valley to navigate the bog bridge, lethal but funny... and smelly; that boggy sulphury smell. Ugh! Next we reached the stream that winds its way through the trees- a real treat. We followed the water till it limboed under a fence line becoming the transient property of a farmer. Then we climbed the steep slippery clay bank emerging into the sunlight surrounded by Amazonian ferns and surprised sheep.

The stroll back along the quiet road that leads home, turned out to be a buffet of hedgerow fruit; pink raspberries beckoned as did the fat, dark blackberries. Time for pie methinks! Deelish!

Ripe Blackberries....

We've been in The Larches for almost a year. Walking the hedges, I'm excited to see the blackberries forming. If I manage to pick even a percentage of them, I'll need a new freezer!

Our life has completely changed since last I picked blackberries...[imagine harp music up and down the scales and your vision blurred into wiggly lines....yes, it's a flashback!]

....2009..Blackberry picking time in Oxfordshire:

Our cottage garden was productive, with a veg plot, herbaceous borders and a tiny pond. We only had room for a few soft fruits; raspberries and blueberries and our big old walnut tree precluded us from fruit trees.

Blackberry season was a time for foraging; my secret location was a park and ride car park just outside Oxford City. Hundreds of people parked and passed by the largest juiciest fruits every day. They kindly left them for me to pick and I picked tons. Now some might say, that these blackberries may have been tainted with the fumes from the cars. They may have been, but they were the best I could find and it would have been a shame to ignore them....free food indeed.

One day I was merrily picking, my third visit that week, when I noticed a burly security guard ambling toward me. I presumed I was infringing some rule about the park and ride car park, i.e. that I was supposed to park and then ride, not park and pick!

'Sorry,' I called, before he'd quite reached me. 'I'm picking all your blackberries.'

He stood beside me as I continued to pick.

'I saw you on the cameras,' he said. 'You've been here before.'

He was about 35yo, his accent possibly from London. He stared at the black fruits I was picking as I popped them into my pot. Some were so ripe they burst, sweet juice staining my fingers. His face screwed up, into the kind of face you get if you suck a lemon.....

'How d'ya know if they're ripe?'

Gosh.

'Well, they're black.' I said. 'And really sweet...Here taste one.'

He recoiled.

'Urghhh, no thanks. I only eat stuff from a supermarket me! And I only like it washed and wrapped in plastic, then I know it's clean.'

Good point!

He left me to forage....clearly thinking I was deranged. Still, more for me! I didn't have to share my crop.

It worries me that we are ignoring readily available produce. My garden is filled with ground elder, cow parsley, nettles, jack-by-the-hedge. All plants we've forgotten how to cook. I've got a new book: Food for Free a Collins gem. I'm determined to eat my way through the garden and hedgerows...safely!

This year my family can be sure of fume free blackberries, apples, pears, sloes, damsons, cherries.....and so much more. I count my blessings and my vitamins...not a cellophane wrapper in sight.

Ten Months...or 40 weeks...or 300 days....approximately

The Archers have been resident at The Larches for exactly 10 months today! It's whizzed by.

Achievements:
1. All four of us are still alive. (Although the 5yo and the 7yo, have made valiant attempts to test this claim...)

2. Also alive, are eight rescued battery hens, one donated rooster and two cats. Kept warm through a pretty chilly winter, I hasten to add.

3. I am loving writing here at The Larches, and have almost finished editing my book for 9+ girls. It's called Greystone School - First Freedom and when I'm completely happy, I'll let you know more!

4. We have almost killed one very persistent 80yo wisteria ....wisteria lovers beware of thy foundations!!

5. We have met lovely horse people, who use our facilities and fields. We have also forced ourselves on the neighbours/villagers, (I think they think we're ok, mad but ok!)

6. We have purchased an ancient and stinky 4x4, which has proved invaluable

7. We have reclaimed the gardens and house, from the grips of Mother Nature ....including ridding the attic of rats, ughhh!

8. The new veg patch, plus the chickens' eggs, should help supplement our food from here on, till September. Plus, we still have the apples, stoned fruit and hedgerow fare, like blackberries, to reap and store. Husband is also learning to shoot. Thus we are beginning to see our smallholding take shape ...I'll let you know as we progress.

9. We have resisted children's pleas, to purchase a horse. (Willy the Shetland doesn't count, as he just lives here f.o.c. and for that, the babies get the occasional riding lesson from the owner)

10. WE ARE BIG-TIME HAPPY.



Failures:
1. My bottom is not as nice as Felicity Kendal's,although luckily my husband, who wears v. strong glasses, thinks it is.