THE ex is in Canada on exercise with the British army. I call it camping because he’s living in a tent with the Pongos (where the army goes the pong goes).

He’s away for the rest of the fruit gathering season so I made the most of his muscle before he headed off.

The lovely summer weather has delivered a bumper crop of fruit. My foraging has been on my doorstep, so we haven’t had to go far. It’s exhausting, but I have had to extend my range of preserve recipes to accommodate the abundance.

So far we have collected 90 kilos of apples and pears.

Sixty kilos have been delivered to Marlborough to be juiced by Richard Paget at applejuice.co.uk. The other 30 kilos I juiced myself, and I now have five litres of cider I am praying doesn’t turn into vinegar.

I have filtered it extensively to try and clarify the liquid to be as a clear as possible.

In my head I am aiming for a light sparkling cider, which is definitely ambitious considering I have never done it before. In addition, I am also trying my hand at elderberry and blackberry wine. The debate rages between the ex and I – is it a science or is it an art? The process is science but I think, as in cooking, there is an element of artistic licence.

I am aiming for Christmas but it’s likely the cider and the wine will take longer.

It is surprising how time consuming the fruit gathering has become.

It’s definitely easier to buy jam than make it, but at the same time I can’t look at the abundance and not try to make the most of it.

Now I have forager’s fingers – covered in cuts and grazes that sting when you are chopping kilos of fruit.

I need to toughen up for the ruddiness of country living.

I have made blackberry and apple jam, and damson and pear jam and I have apple sauce still to do.

The fruit is so plump and the combination of warm rain and sunshine is just finishing it off nicely.

This year I have given it a whizz with my blender to make it smooth and it’s heavenly. It’s hard to diet at fruit harvest time.

It’s also my first foray into making chutney. I have just made a vat of spicy pear and apple pickle. It’s just cooling on the hob. Then I have a few gallons of blackberry and vanilla vodka and damson gin.

Our two Oxford Sandy pigs are delighting in the fruit scraps. Although, they are rather more flatulent as a result of all the roughage.

So if the MAMILs (middle aged men in lycra) are cycling past they might get gassed by my trumpeting piggies.

l Writer and journalist Clare Macnaughton’s latest book is available on Amazon. A Modern Military Mother – Tales from the Domestic Frontline is an honest account of a decade of being married to an RAF officer serving in the British military.

Follow Clare on twitter: @amodmilitarymum Blog: amodernmilitarymother.com