Indian Summer Part II - Sloes!

Today we (nearly) lept out of bed in search of the elusive sloe. We have come to the conclusion that we will be having a traditional Christmas and celebrate all we love about Norfolk & English winter traditions. My Sarah Raven Christmas book has been well read and we've decided that we would try and make sloe gin & sloe vodka for Christmas, and having been told in some quarters that they were over, and other quarters that they wouldn't be ready yet we weren't sure if we'd missed the Sloe boat.

It was a cool start to the day but by the time we got up to Itteringham where we had asked a friendly farmer to help us to locate some sloes it had got really quite warm. In fairness I didn't know what a sloe looked like and so once the townies had been dropped by a hedge bursting with sloes we were left to get stung, scratched, prickled and generally made to work for our sloes. I was really surprised by the size of the little beggars and also the tenacity with which they clung to the hedge, the sheen on them was translucent and they are really pretty.

After picking some rosehips (not enough as I discovered when we got home) we headed up the Wolterton Park Harden open day where we immediately sought out lunch. The garden is rented out by the owners to a couple who grow enough to run Barker Organics. After lunch we toured the organic garden learning quite a bit about biodynamic gardening in the process. Growing up we were taken to almost every estate kitchen garden in England (well it felt like it sometimes) and while the Barker garden does not resemble one tiny bit the traditional national trust tidy type kitchen garden I can honestly say I have never been in a kitchen garden with so much wildlife. I saw a goldfinch for only the second time, robins, bees,(honey and bumble), and the various sunflowers were amazing, although they didn;t have any black ones like we grew this year.

After wandering around the stalls where we saw a whole host of amazing produce and crafts made in Norfolk we meandered home to an amazing supper of organic sausage, apple (mums tree), and Norfolk onion casserole. With it we had mustard mash made with our potatos - i can honestly say it was the best mash I have ever tasted! We had carrots plucked from the ground moments before going in the pan - he has to go and pick them by torchlight as the evenings have started catch us unawares.

By next weekend I hope to have my cloches which i'll need for winter growing - because of the veg patch dimensions then I have to cut accross my normal beds but if thats what it takes to get veg over the winter then so be it!

Oh and the sloes? 2.85KG - about 6 75cl bottles worth - Roll on Christmas!!!