I am always glad when a crafty person shares their garden on their blog because I really just love a good nosey at other people's patches so I've decided to include more allotment stuff here. You can always just skip it: in fact, a question - do you read blogs, or just look at the pictures?! I find some blogs irresistible and read all the way through, and there are others which I just look at for the photos - usually bloggers with thousands of readers, so I doubt this admission would bother them.
Anyhow, back to the allotment. Thing 2 is a diligent helper so she and I went down and picked the remaining soft fruit.
Nobody but me actually likes blackcurrant jam very much so a few pots will be enough - I will have to find something else to do with them. If you have a favourite blackcurrant recipe suggestions would be very welcome.
The last strawberries, picked in the sun - I wish you could smell them.
These ones got made into Eton Mess, which was eaten so quickly that there is no photo evidence. Pictures of other people's dinners are really inspiring but it doesn't often occur to me to take a photo of ours!
We have still got rhubarb and apples to come, because I get the benefit of one side of a row of old apple trees - cookers and eaters - which separates my plot from the next. I've just been reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's book Booze and found out that you can make rhubarb vodka, so that's next on the list - I will let you know how it goes.
I don't want to sound too like Barbara out of The Good Life (I always liked Margot best) so I'd better point out that my most successful crop at the moment is actually weeds.
That's an impressive haul! I'm yearning for gooseberries but they take years to produce anything. Will have to try Waitrose again.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you do with the blackcurrants do pop over to CJ at Above the River for a cautionary tale! Your harvest looks great and I read somewhere that having a few weeds protects the crops anyway. Regarding reading or skipping blogs I do both and I have noticed that some posts of mine that are more wordy get fewer comments than others which are more pictorial. Are we all losing the ability to concentrate or is it due to having far too many things to read that we no longer really plough through lots of text? Food for thought there perhaps.
ReplyDeleteWow ... still some strawberries to be picked .. strawberry season has been over for several weeks here ... jam and purée are bottled and waiting for their turn
ReplyDeleteWell I share your love for the black currants ... well one thing you can try is "many fruit jam" which my granny usually made with the rests that were in the freezer (you know the 200g that are over your kg mark that you need for a pack of that sugar stuff) [nowadays I do it for her] ... well anyway it usually ends up: strawberries, black+red currant, goose berries, a few peaches, apple and quince ... that's what I can think about .. probably some raspberries too ... it ends up beeing a sweet fruity jam of undefinable taste ... (not bad though).
My host family in Finnalnd used it to make some thick sauce for the porridge, essentially it was black currant juice with a little bit of starch to thicken the juice ... though the not black currant loers might not like that either ..
Ohh and absolutely fantastic was a rye porridge - it was coarse ground rye cooked over night in black currant juice, served warm in the mornign with a splash of cold milk ... (they would cook it over coals in their fireplace ...) it also works in a pot on the stove though .. just mind it's fresh grain, so it needs either to be soaked for 12 hours or cooked for 90 minutes.
Else eat them all!!!!!
You can also freeze them in small portions, just take them out in the evening and add them to the muesli in the morning ...
Ok that's all I can think of to do with black currants - I mean I'm sure you could use them to add to some beef stews, use them to fill sweet dumpling sort of things/ puddings ... use them on a basic red currant cake (shortcrust base, beaten egg whites with added sugar and nuts mixed with the berries as filling) [I'm getting hungry]
The answer to the blog reading question is: Look at the picture. If they are interesting or confusing, read the first few sentences. On any given day, I read about 10% of the blogs I follow.
ReplyDelete1. I adored The Good Life. It was so funny and touching. And the last episode made me cry.
ReplyDelete2. Strawberry rhubarb pie is my favorite. It transports me to the ceiling. There I am, floating around with a blissful look, shoveling the stuff into my mouth.
3. Mostly read and look at pix. I admit to, um, skimming, like, 34 pix of the same sunset or something every now and then. Or recipes with dairy which I can't eat anyway.
4. Have been commissioned to make 45 round tablecloths and I am mildly freaked having never made a round tablecloth before. Thought I'd try using the rolled hem foot. I hasten to add I was volunteered for this project. Maureen can quilt, so that must mean Maureen can sew anything! Arrrrgggh!
5. I am truly freaking out now because Josephine ate part of a mushroom growing outside. Poisonous? Double Arrrrgggh!
I think that an occasional post about something off topic is fine as it breaks up all the quilting/crafting blogs I read. I manage to read most of the blogs I subscribe too over tea in bed in the morning. I'm one of the very lucky ones who doesn't need to rush off to work in the morning anymore. We've had plant of fruit this year but the blackcurrants were stolen by the birds as we do not net them. I always freeze masses to use during the winter when they are not generally available but there is nothing nicer than home-made jam and scones (with cream, of course). I love the Scandinavian recipe ideas from Leo above too
ReplyDeleteI don't mind good pictures and yours are always pretty and interesting to look at. So yes, carry on!
ReplyDeleteI read blogs, I do not just look at the pictures (yet I do appreciate good pictures), I prefer when the contents is not too long to read... I prefer "short and sweet." I admit that sometimes when it is too long and goes on and on...I sometimes lose interest...unless it's really interesting of course.
Margot was definitely my favourite–loved her blindness to humour "why is it funny?" Blackcurrant sorbet would go down a treat in this weather, or perhaps gin and blackcurrant cordial (probably not for the kids). As for reading the text, or just looking at pictures, I do both but appreciate a well written blog over a blog that's all style and no content.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to have found your blog, I think it's one I will enjoy. I tend to stick my blackcurrants in a crumble (let's not mention the cordial debacle) and I add a layer of other fruit as well so that it's not too blackcurranty. I'm definitely a reader of blogs, love them.
ReplyDeleteI'd put some in the freezer ready for when the apples start falling - apple and black currant tart is almost as nice as apple and blackberry. I like the occasional non sewing post. I only follow sewing blogs so it adds a little variety. I tend to read nearly all post on my reader although I must admit to skimming book/pattern reviews etc especially as I've usually heard it all already on another stop on the hop!
ReplyDeleteooh! fruit looks wonderful x I share my blackcurrants with my mum .. I have mine with muesli .. she has hers with porridge .. my dad says they are ..YUCK! .. so he gets the apple cake!! enjoy x
ReplyDeleteI love garden posts too!
ReplyDeleteOhhhh, blackcurrant jam in rice pudding...yum!!! I tend to read blog posts rather than just looking at the photos and love posts that reveal more about the blogger's life than their quilting!
ReplyDeleteDelia Smith has a fab recipe for blackcurrant ice cream, which is a top favourite here! She sieves the blackcurrants though, discarding the pulp. I just mash them up and keep it all in, works perfectly.
ReplyDeleteOh .. my mouth waters for a taste of black currants in all the recipes mentioned above !
ReplyDeleteI love reading blogs especially when there is a more personal note to them ... and a touch of humour adds so much to my reading pleasure ! As well, a down to earth approach is another welcome aspect.
How lovely to be able to make things from food you have grown yourself. We are in the process of buying a bit of land. Hopefully in about a year or so we will have a house built and be living there. It is not farm-sized land, but it is certainly big enough to plant trees and have a big garden. Although all evidence points to me having a black thumb, I am really looking forward to that part :)
ReplyDeleteI mostly read 100% of blog posts that I follow, unless I know the topic is of no interest to me, in which case I still tend to scan it to see if anything off-topic is mentioned, or in case they say something that makes me change my mind about how interested I am in the topic :) For the last few weeks my computer has been tempermental about showing images, so I get to read most of the post before the images even appear.
I can smell those delicious strawberries all the way down here!! I oooh and aaah over the photos but I read the blogs as well. There is always something interesting or funny to read Mmm...rhubarb vodka; sounds like a fascinating tipple!!
ReplyDeleteYou've got me thinking, we have a black currant bush but I don't think there are any berries on it. Will have to go outside and look. I've just finished making runner bean chutney from beans we grow in our veg patch.
ReplyDeleteI usually read blogs but not those which are advertising sponsors etc. I've even culled some which now just seem to be about advertising. I expect I'm not the only one.
I love reading the blogs which are more personal, so yes, blogs about gardens and plants are just right up my street. I love blackberries in apple crumble or apple pie. Our raspberries and strawberries are just finished, and the blue berries are yet to come. The strawberries were not great this year, I think the plants are past it. Our broad beans were pretty good though and the peas, not bad for a small garden . We have a hazel nut tree but I never seem to get the nuts though I see them on the tree, do the birds eat them I wonder?
ReplyDeletealways read yours, tho the pictures are good too! What yummy looking produce, esp since we are in winter mode here!
ReplyDeleteI love Hugh FW's vege book, might have to try the booze one too!
I don't have any green fingers whatsoever. I am happy to help other with their handouts. I've just made some barely set redcurrant jelly and am willing Laughing Boy to tackle the gooseberry bush, whilst I watch from afar. Loving your photos as always
ReplyDeleteYour strawberries look delicious! We're having a good year for weeds too :-(
ReplyDeleteIt all looks so yummy! Black currants....hmm, I will consult my cook books and get back to you if I find anything! I do have a recipe for Hucklberry buckle (kind of a coffee cake) that might do?! They all look so pretty with the leaves an blossom petals! cheers, cw
ReplyDeleteI love a good garden post! Your strawberries are so beautiful, but being American I have no idea what Eton Mess is, so now I am off to google it ;) Also, please do let us know how the rubarb vodka turns out - that sounds like a true adventure.
ReplyDeleteI vote for Blackcurrant ice cream/sorbet.
ReplyDelete