I would like to dedicate this Autumn Equinox newsletter to my mum, Vivien Mary Hayes, who passed away in July. Mum loved her garden, living simply, in tune with the seasons and taught me so much about living well with what we have, forever frugal, forever inventful, and forever creative in all she did.
Rest in Peace, Mum.
Hello everyone, it’s so good to be back on the Bridge Cottage page again, and we send Mabon greetings to you all as we reach the Autumn Equinox, the time when the day is the same length as the night, a time for harvest and laying down of stores. On a gloriously warm day last week sat in front of the greenhouse and watched as the sun set behind the row of pines on our neighbouring farmer’s field, rather than behind the clump of trees that sits on the top of a rise on Hadrian’s Wall as it did on the Summer Solstice when we enjoyed sun-drenched evenings from the sunny seat at the back of the garden. But did you see the Harvest Moon last night? What a whopper! There’s no need to turn the light on for those nighttime trips along the landing with a moon that bright!
Following a writing research trip up to Loch Tay and a visit to the brilliant Crannog Centre, a reconstruction of an Iron Age settlement, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the ancients lived; how the laying down of stores was vital to their existence, and how well Tim and I would have fitted in back then! As I write, Tim is in the kitchen making elderberry tonic to ward off those coughs and colds. I’ve shared the recipe for this with you in the past, but here it is again:
All seasons are busy in their own right, this is the season of harvest as the moon suggests, of laying down stores and preparing for the colder months and Christmas. However, unlike the ancients who would bury crops in earth mounds and use pots to preserve them, we have the luxury of a freezer, Kilner jars and our fabulous pasteuriser and juice extractor which is going into overdrive this week as apples litter the ground and juice is being made. With this in mind, I thought I’d concentrate on the humble apple in this Mabon post and share some recipes with paid subscribers.
Another wonderful piece of kit, if you have apples to press ( and thanks to our neighbour here who shares his press with us), is a ‘scratter’. It’s like a giant cheese grater and shreds the apples into fine pieces so that they are easier to press, as seen below. In the days before scratting we would employ a large bucket and wooden post to mash apples, but a scratter is worth its weight in gold!
Once the juice has been collected, we leave it for a night to settle in a lidded bucket then bottle it in clean skew-top bottles that are heated in the pasteurizer which means the juice keeps until we are ready to make juice again the following year. We’ve actually just finished up the last of the juice from 2022!
Apples of course make wonderful chutney, with fennel and apple being the favourite in our store cupboard, and make wonderful gifts, this also being the season to think ahead to Christmas and making simple but well-received gifts. Just tart the jar up with a circle of fabric and a sweep of ribbon and the job’s a good’un.
I’ll share that recipe for paid members below.
Whilst friends and family are given bags of apples and the box on the front step is topped up with free apples for passers-by, we are also cooking up apples and blackberries and freezing for porridge in the winter months. Just peel, core and chop and stew gently with a tablespoon or two of sugar til soft either with a tsp of cinnamon or any foraged blackberries you might find.
Apples are a wonderful source of pectin for jam-making, so this is a great time of year to make jams and jellies, the apples helping the setting process. High on our lists of jobs for the coming week will be to make these colourful jellies to give as Christmas gifts, adding chilli, mint or sage as the jelly is cooling.
If time is pressing (excuse the pun) apples can be stored in a cool, dark place, away from nibbling mice to be eaten as they are or cooked up later. Just wrap clean, dry and unblemished apples in paper and store them in a box or bag somewhere cook and dry. It’s amazing how long they’ll keep and you’ll be so grateful you went to the effort.
and now for the recipes…..as I write, I’ve just scoffed a slice of a wonderful apple and cinnamon cake I rustled up yesterday. I’ll share this, and the recipe for fennel and apple chutney for paid subscribers below.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Bridge Cottage Way to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.