The Waning of the Light

The light has shifted, the days are cooler, and mist and rain are beginning to replace the sun and warmth of July. The summer is waning. But some beautiful wildflowers and wild fruits are now arising in the hedgerows, including Harebell, Fireweed, Yarrow, Devil's Bit Scabious and a plethora of ripening Blackberries. Elder berries and Wild Rose hips will soon be ready for gathering - they are both valuable ingredients for winter cough syrups and make delicious, vitamin-rich jellies or jams. We are seed collecting also, beginning with English Bluebell - their papery seedcasings are filled with minute shining black seeds. This beautiful native wildflower is becoming scarce due to the prolific nature of the imported Spanish Bluebell and the resulting hybrids, so we'll be spreading its seeds throughout the coming weeks.

We've also collected the seeds of Devil's Bit Scabious and are searching for those of Ragged Robin - both populations are in decline due to habitat loss, mainly stemming from modern agricultural practices and the draining of wetland environments. We've collected and sown seeds from Jack-by-the-hedge, also known as Hedge Garlic and Jack-in-the-bush, in a corner of our garden - its leaves and young flowerheads have a mild garlic flavour and can be added to salads or sandwiches or made into pesto. I will be posting more on this plant soon.

In the garden, the courgettes, or zucchinis, were an epiphany for us this year - such generous and prolific plants.

We grew four plants in large pots and they've given us about two dozen courgettes so far. We pick them when they are about 3 -4 inches in length. We discovered a wonderful recipe for zucchini bread (a cake really due to its sweetness) - the best we've ever tasted - and we've made several beautiful loaves with our own lovely produce plus as many local, organic ingredients as possible. Here's the recipe:

Courgette/Zucchini Bread Recipe

(Please note: We're using British measurements)

2 cups/300 gr plain unbleached organic flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp allspice or ginger
1 cup/150 gr organic sugar
2 large free range eggs, beaten
100 ml organic rapeseed or sunflower oil
250 gr of grated courgettes, with the skin left on
1/2 lemon, juiced
Dash of agave or honey
(You could also include 3/4 cup walnuts, and/or 1tsp organic vanilla extract.)

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Pre-heat the oven to 150C/300F. Grease and flour a 9 X 5 inch loaf tin. (Alternately you can grease and then line with baking paper).

Sift the flour, salt, soda, baking powder, and spices into a large bowl. Whisk in the sugar.

Beat the eggs and rapeseed oil (plus vanilla extract if you're using it) together. Add the grated courgettes and lemon juice, then mix.

Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture, mixing until well combined. Stir in the walnuts if you're using them and add honey or agave to taste. 

Bake in the heated oven for 55 min - 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes or so before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Delicious toasted and served warm with some cold butter, or with homemade jam.


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Botanical names of wildflowers used in this post:

Devil's Bit Scabious; Succisa pratensis
Elder; Sambucus nigra
English (or Common Bluebell); Hyacinthoides non-scripta
Fireweed (or Rosebay Willow Herb); Chamerion (or Epilobium) angustifolium
Jack-by-the-hedge (or Hedge Garlic; Jack-in-the-bush); Alliaria petiolata
Harebell; Campanula rotundifolia
Ragged Robin; Lychnis flos-cuculi
Rowan; Sorbus aucuparia
Wild Rose (or Dog-rose); Rosa canina
Yarrow; Achillia millefolium

The First Small Harvests

Here in the fells we are enjoying our first small harvests : crunchy, sweet mangetout (sugar or snow peas), garlic, chives, the first small onions and courgettes, and our very first tipped pot of early new potatoes (they were late this year). Plus lots of greens: garlic mustard, rocket, various lettuces and Japanese mizuna and mibuna. And the nasturtiums have finally begun to spread - their leaves and flowers are edible, and have a distinct sweet, peppery flavour. We also have two blackcurrant bushes which are bursting with fruit, and a lovely gooseberry bush - last year it had three berries - this year its branches are full of lovely, sweet, gooseberries - I found a variety in a local market last year which has pale purple fruit rather than green, and it has a truly delectable flavour which I would liken to slightly tart raspberries. 

We are surrounded also by wild brambles, or blackberries, which are now in flower and covered each day with buzzing insects - bees, hoverflies, flies, butterflies and countless others which I have yet to identify.

Mangetout blossom

I wanted to share a little more about how we're gardening. Since we opted to expand our container garden this year, we've had to buy about ten bags of peat-free, organic compost. But we've been composting our kitchen and garden waste since arriving here, and hope to have our own source of compost soon. We mulch everything. This both keeps down on weeds, and conserves water in the soil. I collect spent bracken stalks and leaves for mulch, plus I use grass clippings (before it goes to seed) which I spread thinly over the garden. It dries quickly and makes a light, useful mulch. I've also mixed in sheep's wool around the edges of the garden beds - we live in sheep country, so there is plenty of wool strewn about the fields. I've been told it also has the added benefit of deterring slugs -  it seems to be working, though I suspect that the weeks of warmth and sunshine have been the true deterrents... and perhaps also the resident frog that we see each evening in the garden...

Courgettes (Zucchini) in Container

 
Our water is piped in directly off of the fell, and though there is of course plenty of rain here, we are still very keen on water collection. For this purpose we are using a large green bin in the field garden and several smaller buckets in the container garden.  I'm also making nettle 'tea' for fertilising in another bucket - I fill up the bucket with nettles, add water and let it sit for a few weeks - this solution, diluted and added to the watering can, is a good source of nitrogen for the garden (which supports stem and leaf growth), with trace amounts of iron, magnesium and sulphur also. It is particularly helpful for plants grown in containers which need their soil regularly topped up with nutrients. If I was growing comfrey, I would be doing the same with it - it is especially useful for flower and fruit production due to its potash content. 

Freshly harvested Courgettes

Our courgettes are growing especially well - I grew them from seed and now have four containers full - which I hope will be enough for two adults. I'm picking them every few days now, when they are about 4 inches long. We're using them both raw and cooked, and are about to experiment with making both bread and muffins with them. 

Gardening, and the gathering of wild foods, by their very nature, bring us into alignment with the seasons. Eating seasonally - having access to vitamin-rich, freshly picked fruits and vegetables, experiencing flavours and textures that are entirely different from what we can purchase at the supermarket, and saving countless food miles by growing as much as we can within our own backyard - this is both a revelation and a joy.