Harvesting

Today has been a fantastic day!

The post arrived and was dealt with.  Thank you to the companies who sent me your advertising material, the worms in the composter will love them.

Being September it is Harvest time.  It is no different in this household. This year, we haven't had a lot of food plants in the garden, as it is in its infant stage and what we have I am very proud of. Next year, hopefully things will be different.

Rhubarb crowns are still in their tubs, but are producing a small crop, enough for a crumble.

Rhubarb Plant

I found an old saucepan than needed some help (brown cooking stain) and stewed the rhubarb down.  The acid from the rhubarb cleaned the stain away.


Red chilli plants are producing quite a few chilli's.  The first pick will be frozen down.  They will be washed off, individually laid on a lined flat tray and open frozen in the chest freezer.  Once frozen, then placed into small freezer bags/containers and placed back in the freezer.

Chilli Pepper Plant with Red Chilli

The apple tree, was cut back last year and this year seems to have excelled itself.  I set myself a task of taking approximately 5lb of apples off the tree.

The Apples on the Tree

The apples were skinned, cored, diced down and stewed.  The stewed apples were allowed to cool before being placed in the freezer.  I've already designated them for apple sauce for Christmas day.

While I was at it, I made a crumble for dinner with left over rhubarb and apple.  The crumble was made from:

6oz     Flour

3oz     Margarine

4oz     Sugar

Rub flour and margarine together until it resembles crumbs.  Mix in sugar.

Place rhubarb and apple in a pyrex dish.  Put the crumble mix on top and bake in over Gas Mark 6 or 200 degrees Celsius for 20 - 25 minutes.  Cost - 17 pence at today's prices, to serve 4 people, just over 4 pence each.

Rhubarb and Apple Crumble

The tomato's have given us a fantastic crop.  We chose miniature plum and cherry tomato this year and it was a good decision.  Preserving them, whether it be freezing or pickling is not being considered.  The lovely truth about home grown tomato's is that they taste a lot better, more intense flavouring, than shop bought ones.  They don't last long and we have a tendency to eat them straight off the vine.

Cherry Tomato's on the Vine

For my evening entertainment I thought another Mistletoe Sampler for my Christmas cards.  Will try to make it a different background to individualise it for somebody special.