Autumn forage

Everyone seems to be promoting an autumn forage of harvesting berries, fruit and things that grow wild.
Yesterday I attended a McMillan tea afternoon fundraiser, and my raffle ticket was the first one picked. There was an array of goodies and I chose the bottle of gin, with a purpose in mind. This morning in the pouring rain I collected lots of sloes from the blackthorn that runs along the edge of our little orchard. This afternoon I prepared the slow gin. It should be ready for Christmas. Only problem is I don't like gin, but the sloes may make it palatable.

The afternoon has been spent in the kitchen making the most of our garden produce. I used the red tomatoes to make sauce for freezing, stewed apples for my breakfast yogurt, prepared the yellow tomatoes for a pastry dish for tonight, and ian dug up potatoes and picked more red tomatoes. All very healthy but confess I ate an enormous bought cookie while preparing everything. And the cakes at yesterday's fund raising tea were very delicious. My friend had the last raffle ticket drawn and won an enormous chocolate cake. Can't wait for my piece.

Tonight it's a TV extravaganza. Strictly Come Dancing, and then BBC2 has its first Saturday Arts evening, focussing on British poetry. Looking forward to a lazy night in.