I find it very strange that as soon as September arrives it really begins to feel as autumn is with us. We have had glorious sunshine during the days but the evenings have been quite chilly with heavy dew fall on a morning, as you step outside it smells of musky damp leaves. Along with the leaves turning to spectacular shades of reds and oranges, the hedgerows are filling with natures free goodies for us all.
This weekend I made my first batch of rosehip syrup, it is nothing like the syrup I remember from my school days, this is gently sweet with a little tang which is delicious over ice cream. My next trip to the hedgerows will be to collect a good supply of blackberries to freeze and see me through the winter, after that it will be crab apples for jelly and then sloes to make sloe gin for winter nights.
When I next go for a walk through the woods I shall be collecting hazel nuts and cob nuts and that will be my bounty complete. This has very much become a family tradition, which my grandchildren love. There is something very satisfying about natures harvest not only the fact that it does not cost money but it is the feeling of doing things the way our ancestors did it, I know that they had no choice it was survival, but today it sometimes feels as though we live in a sterile clinical world, I enjoy going back to nature, but I am not keen on the dark nights.
Through this winter I am intending to investigate more into hedgerow foraging and to be ready for spring to see what new delights I can make from the spring time hedges.