A Garden in the Hills: Katharine Stewart’s Diary Entry for October 23rd

Here's an excerpt for today from Katharine Stewart's diary-turned-book A Garden in the Hills. 

October 23rd

Waking to find a scattering of snow above the tree line on the hill, I think 'time to gather the apples'. The day turns brilliant, blue and gold and windless, and just to gaze at the apples--some red, some green, tinged with yellow-against the deep blue of the sky is a moment of delight. They come crisply from their stalks, the ones within reach. A good shake of the higher branches and soon the biggest and brightest are lying on the mossy turf. The old tree it must be nearly a centenarian-_is still putting out new shoots. I think it's happy old tree.

The plums are not so plentiful this year. The tree must have been having a year off, though the blossom  was beautiful. But wild fruit everywhere. The rowan berries we make into jelly, a bitter jelly, even  when mixed with crab-apple juice, but good as a relish. Our great favourite is rowan wine. We simply steep the berries in boiling water, with a small piece of whole ginger, let it stand for ten days, strain, and add sugar, a pound to a pint. Then, after three weeks, or when fermentation has ceased, you have a drink of colour to delight the eye and which possesses, so they say, the secret of eternal youth. I drink a glass at supper-time each day!

There are hazel nuts in plenty, too, for protein. They do well in the grinder, then mixed with onion and oatmeal to make 'hazelburgers.'  I often think that at this time of 'Oktoberfest' one could survive quite happily on natural produce. Time is needed, of course, to gather in the harvests and to prepare them for keeping, with sugar or vinegar or salt. We're lucky, indeed, to find so much almost on our doorstep or within easy reach.