Come harvest home . . .

The Autumn is my favourite time of year. It's always been so. I love the smells, the sights . . . the sounds. You get nice warm days, followed by cooler nights . . . not so bad for sleeping. The leaves on the trees start to turn all shades of gold and brown, and regale us daily with their beauty . . . even the gardens, which are beginning to look a bit tired, have lovely bits of brown to share with us, which is beautiful in it's own way. The seed pouches of all the flowers are filled with the promise of a spring to come. The conkers begin to fall from the chestnut trees, and the air is filled with the sound of children wending their way back to school. We have an elementary school not too far from us here at Oak Cottage, and at break times the air is filled with the sounds of their chatter and laughter as they play. It's a lovely sound, and one I quite miss in the summer weeks, when they are on break.



I can think of no lovelier season than the harvest season. It is particularly so for those of us who live in a rural area, or who have productive gardens of our own. We are surrounded by apple orchards here, and whilst it has been a particularly bad year for the farmers in a lot of ways due to lack of sunshine and too much rain, the trees (to me) look to be fairly bowing down to the ground with abundant apples and pears . . . and the air rings with the sound of the apple pickers as they work their way through the orchard's bounty. We can hear their chatter and laughter echoing throughout the orchards on sunny afternoons as they labour away.



There can be nothing more satisfying than eating food that you have grown yourself . . . fresh lettuces, crisp runner beans . . . ripe tomatoes. How wonderful to be able to pick a lovely bunch of dahlias, in all their glorious colour right now, to place on the kitchen table and grace us with their beauty.



We grew some corn here this summer, in big black pots, along the back of the cottage, where it would get the most sun. North American sweet corn. Oh how I looked forward to it all summer. Each week I watched it, as it grew taller and taller, and I dreamt of having a couple of feasts of delicious corn on the cob when it was ripe . . . just dripping with sweet butter. I was finally forced to harvest it this past week though. I could tell that if I left it any longer, what was there, would just rot and we'd never have a taste. I got six tiny ears, about a third the size of what they should have been and that's all . . . nevermind though . . . it did taste glorious, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it as we should have done . . .



Wherever we live, whether we have gardens or not, we may be thankful for yet another harvest safely home . . . for those who have worked on the land to bring it about for us to enjoy . . . and for the providence of a Heavenly Father in giving us our daily bread, for as we all know all that we enjoy in the way of providence is fed and watered by God's almighty hand.

"For rosy apples, juicy plums,
And yellow pears so sweet,
For hips and haws on bush and hedge,
And flowers at our feet;
For ears of corn, all ripe and dry,
And coloured leaves on trees,
We thank you, Heavenly Father God,
For such good gifts as these."
~author unknown



I got some painting done yesterday afternoon. There was a talent night at my church last evening, and as you know I was putting up a display of my artwork to share. I really love this little piece I did yesterday afternoon. I call it, "She Had a Heart of Gold." I actually love this piece the most of any that I have done thus far, but then again, I say that every time I do one! I am going to put her up for sale later today on Etsy. I did her in acrylics on a boxed canvas and she's about 8" by 8" and quite lovely if I don't say so myself!

I made use of some of the abundant blackberries we find growing in the hedgerows that surround us and the orchards yesterday morning, and treated Todd and myself to a lovely plate of Berry pancakes. I even made some homemade syrup to go along with them. Oh my , but they were good . . .



*Berry Pancakes*
Serves 4

Light and fluffy pancakes, with a hint of lemon flavour and stogged full of lucious berries. You can use any berry you like, but I have chosen to use blackberries here. Yumm, yumm, delicious!

1 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBS finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs, seperated
4 TBS butter, melted
2 cups of mixed fresh blueberries and blackberries
(Or one or the other)
a bit of oil for frying

Measure the milk into a jug and add the lemon juice. Let stand for 10 minutes before proceeding.
In the meantime, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and lemon zest together in a large bowl.

Whisk the egg yolks into the milk and lemon mixture.

Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture and add the milk mixture all at once, along with the melted butter. Stir until just incorporated. Don't over mix. Don't be alarmed if some lumps remain.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Stir about half of the mixture into the batter, to slacken it a bit, and then carefully fold in the remaining whites. Gently fold in the berries.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Once hot, brush with some oil and then ladle in 1/2 cups full of the batter, leaving a bit of space in between each. Cook for several minutes, until nicely browned on the underside and multiple bubbles have appeared on the surface. Carefully flip over and cook on the other side until golden brown. Keep warm in a slow oven while you repeat with the remaining batter until it is all used up.

Serve warm with a pat of butter on top and a drizzle of the warm Golden Lemon Syrup.



*Golden Lemon Syrup*
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 cup water
2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 TBS lemon zest (I use my zester to make long curls of the zest
instead of grating it finely for this)

Place a heavy saucepan on top of the stove and add the water and sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. When completely dissolved, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once it boils, cover the pan and start timing it right away. Boil the syrup for 3 minutes.

Uncover and add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Don't be alarmed if it bubbles up a bit. Continue to boil, uncovered, for about 3 minutes longer. The mixture should be syrupy. Let cool to warm, or to room temperature before using. Store any unused syrup in the refrigerator.