}

Sunday 6 July 2008

Fruit for Jam

I have been swinging between crazy tiredness and random bursts of energy, hence my recent absence! Just 12 weeks to go before baby is due and I feel so unprepared, for everything! How did the time go so fast?

Anyways, I have been busily stitching, lots of new creations, mostly all for swaps, will share soon, I haven't had a chance to photograph them yet, but will be back ASAP with pics galore!

I have also been busily stirring up a storm at the stove for the last few days. Lots of fruit grows on our land, and lots comes from our kind neighbours, so the Jam Pot has barely been out of use in recent weeks.
I now have enough Jam to feed a small country, I'm sure!

Check out the scrumptious fruit!



Raspberries and blackberries mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!



The cherries came from Monsieur Honesty's garden, despite the fact we have 4 cherry tree's, and he only has 1! Our tree's netted us a total of about um, 2 cherries, the birds were just too fast for us lazy pickers and gobbled them all up. Monsieur Honesty had about 50kg off his one tree, and he didn't net his either, I can only assume the local resident Swallows think our cherries taste better, though this I can't guarantee since I barely tasted a single one, look, here is one lone cherry in our tree, ces't la vie!



The children reminded me that cherrie's are much more than a delicious snack....



Cherry earrings! How sad that stores don't sell cherries in bunches like this anymore, in the UK at least, all cherries have to be seperated (some bizarre Government food legislation), millions of kids will grow up not knowing about cherry earrings, someone should write to the Primeminister! :) Or at least, plant a cherry tree in your garden, just make sure you get there before the birdies!

I forgot to photograph the HUGE glut of apricots we had too, in the jam pot they went!
Everything else is sprouting foliage like wild fire, we can barely keep up with the growth in recent weeks. This being our first summer here (and previously having had a gardener for our French house when we lived full time in the UK), we had no idea how much work was involved with simply cutting the acres of grass and meadow, pruning tree's and generally keeping things from turning into a Jungle!
I dare say, I shouldn't really complain too much about this, since Simon does most of the hard labour (given my present condition), whilst I sun myself and watch :)

I am now plotting what on earth we are going to do with the apples this autumn, the tree's are bowing under the weight of more kinds of apples than I even knew existed, and to think the orchard is only at 1/4 of it's potential capacity, owing to most of it being buried (still!) under a bramble jungle.
So apples, any ideas? Cider is a must, apple puree for baby, what else is there to do with several hundred KG of apples?



One of my favourite things about summer..... BASIL.
I just planted these up in an old French crate I found at a local brocante recently, I LOVE the smell of Basil, to me, Basil IS summer, torn up and tossed into salads, on to fresh tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, mmmmmmmmmmmm.



AnyhooOOoO, duty calls, dinner will not cook itself! I am using more apricots to make an Apricot Bread and Butter Pudding this evening, will share the results and recipe tomorrow :) Until then, Bon Weekend!



23 comments:

  1. ummmmmm.....everything looks sooo good and fresh! I have been so bad about not writing you back or blogging. Will do so soon.
    hugs,
    Sena

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  2. well, you know full well cherries that are not seperated are a very big health and safety risk. You could accidently trip over onto one, the stalks could get wrapped around your neck and before you know it you're dead. Or something.
    And cherries don't even look like cherries in the supermarket - they are never red like cherries should be, they are always almost purple, never taste of anything much and are generally crap. Rant rant rant, moan moan moan.
    Love that pic of your crazy girls. Only 12 more weeks til you get another one. Blimey, it is flying by.

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  3. Hi Tallulah

    Your blog is making me hungry!!
    Looks like your living the good life!!

    Katy's comment about dying is so true ,I had to laugh at her interpretation of health and safety though ,very funny.

    Girls look really happy and tanned!

    Thanks for sharing I will look forward to seeing your latest swaps .
    Love from sesga xx

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  4. Pity we can't swap some jam for curry!

    Is the lake on your land too?
    It sound idyllic.
    Your girls look lovely,

    Best wishes,

    nicky

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  5. Tallulah, all that fruit looks so wonderful. I love natural whole foods vs processed.

    I am looking forward to seeing your new creations.

    Cheers

    Inga

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  6. Mmm all that fresh fruit!

    Apple crumble, stewed apple (with custard)...no no dangerous territory. I'll end up going to the supermarket and buying a ton of apples.

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  7. What a beautiful time of year for you and the children. How lucky they are to be able to grow their own food, what an experience! Your girls look so *happy*.

    I am looking forward to seeing the work you have been stitching for swap.

    Try and keep those feet up... when you're not cooking up your fresh produce...mmmmm I would love some fresh summer berries (not too long to wait I suppose).

    Jacky xox

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  8. That's so strange! ...Today, we have to make a legislation about evil cherries!!! Crazy!

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  9. Hello from your SwapBot BlogLove partner. I love that picture of your chicks...we can get cherries with stems at the Farmers' Market, so I'll have to do that for my grandchicks.

    You are tagged for 6 random things.

    1. Link to the person who tagged you.
    2. Post the rules on the blog.
    3. Write six random things about yourself.
    4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
    5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
    6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a beautiful blog you have here! I found you through Jill's blog. I love all the photos... the kingfisher and those kittens... oh my goodness they are cute! Those beautifully photographed baby booties are precious.

    I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

    Take care,

    Holly
    Los Angeles, CA

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  11. This is a lovely time of the year. We are not much behind you here in southern Finland, which is amazing. The cherries are almost ready and this year we will have lots of them.
    In our garden we have also a peartree full of pears this year. And some black- and red currants. Naughty rabbit ate our apple tree :(

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  12. Did you jam the blackcurrents with the raspberries? We get bits of this and that so I'm thinking of just making mixed fruit jam and chutney this year! Lovely harvest! t.x

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  13. Cherry earrings .... hmm, that's got my creative juices buzzing!

    And I want to know how you lost all that weight without the use of a tapeworm? I bet it involved starving and exercise didn't it?!

    PS - I'm having a cool blog giveaway!

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  14. Hi Hoola, just checking in and wondering? How's it going?
    Cookie

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  15. I would rather eat your food than go to a super market any day!! we grow our own fruit and veg (wel when i say "we" i mean my mum and dad) and it always tastes way nicer...congratulations on the fabby harvest :)

    laura

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  16. Oh, I used to wear cherry-earrings too, as I was a little one. :-)

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  17. How are you? Hope you are well.
    viv

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  18. Oh...the girls look so cute with their cherry earings. That is a photo they will treasure forever. How did the apricot jam turn out? We are moving to a property in a few days with an orchard, including apricots. I am so excited! :0)Kristin

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  19. wow, what amazing bounty!

    I've only canned a few things, but apple butter was easy (no peeling!) and turned out delicious.

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  20. Everything looks wonderful! Hope you are all doing well. Cammy

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  21. Hey Tallulah, how are things on your side of the world...must be coming into Autumn which would be beautiful with all of those wonderful trees on your farm.
    I hope all is well (you havent had that baby yet have you????).

    Jacky xox

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  22. What a beautiful place to live...
    Your pictures of the fruit sure made my mouth water!!!!
    Good luck with the new baby
    xoxo
    ((((hugs))))
    Maggie

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  23. Raspberries are known as "aggregate fruits" since they are a compendium of smaller seed-containing fruits, called drupelets, which are arranged around a hollow central cavity. Their shape conveys to them a very delicate, almost "melt-in-your-mouth" texture. They are fragrantly sweet with a subtly tart overtone. While the most common type of raspberry (Rubus idaeus) is red-pink in color, raspberries actually come in a range of colors including black, purple, orange, yellow and white. Both loganberries and boysenberries are hybrids of raspberries.

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