Last week I decided it was time to clear the space for winter crops: mainly edible flowers that get battered by the south west gales when grown outside. Once I started rummaging around in the vines I was amazed to find 15 large loofahs , this was without the earlier ‘casualties’ and a fair amount of neglect. I’d never quite got round to feeding them as I’d planned to, and I’m sure an article mentioned pollinating them. Up until this point I hadn’t really expected results but then panic, I realised I didn’t have a clue about processing them.

I pondered on this for a few days, meanwhile, a quick survey of friends revealed that most people assume the loofah comes from the sea. But no, it looks like a cucumber except inside is a structure of cellulose fibres, similar to the fibres in cotton.

Now, how to turn the ‘cucumber’ thing into something you scrub your back with?

My first stop was cottage smallholder, a favourite blogspot and whilst they did have a blog about loofahs they weren’t growing any themselves. However their link to down to earth, an Australian blog had more information, and I’ll be checking this blog again. Although Rhondas advice was helpful, she recommended leaving them to dry on the vine or if you needed to pick them green to dry them out before any processing. I had tried drying one of our earlier casualties but it had simply rotted away.

A friend suggested an entirely different method and so with a sense of trepidation, we experimented. The first loofah was tentatively peeled and then in water we ‘milked’ it, squeezing the flesh and seeds out. It certainly got the arm muscles working and after some hard work, the end result was pretty good!

Faced with another 14, I decided to enlist the help of my boys, theres nothing like a large trug of water to attract children. This time, we skipped the peeling and simply cut the ends off before all that squeezing. I actually think this worked better, the skin seemed to protect the structure whilst the innards and seeds were squeezed out, it then seemed to naturally peel away. A few days drying in all that recent sunshine, finished the process.

On the whole, a success not only do we have some lovely loofahs to give away at Christmas, but thousands of seeds for next year!

It was July when I first stumbled across the Wild Cherry Plum trees ( Prunus Cerasifera), as a keen forager I was intrigued. I have a pretty good memory of my local landscape: the first blackberries to the last sloes worth picking, yet I couldn’t ever remember noticing these trees with fruit , let alone dripping heavily with it. A handful later, and they seemed plum like, smelt of apricots, the flesh was a little dry but it tasted pleasant enough. I did a quick check in various wild food books on the bookshelf, but the only mention was a very brief one in Richard Mabey’s Food For Free and there were no recipes. I couldn’t leave so much beautiful fruit to rot so I treated it as a plum and made jam to start with – tastes great! Over the next few weeks I went back several times, and I certainly wasn’t the only one doing so, until eventually the whole area was heady with the smell of fermenting fruit . I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on them next year…

Next came the damsons; we are lucky to have an entire hedge of them at the orchard, although they are becoming very old and gnarly. Picking them has now become a punctuation in our year and for two weeks they are a major priority. Our tried, tested and slightly refined method is a little like olive picking: everyone stands well back as I shake each branch with the help of a very long pole, its rains damsons for a few minutes, then it’s a race to see who can get the most in their basket! Last year we made jam and damson cheese, both were great , but the winner by far was the damson vodka, so this year I’ve just made the vodka, but as requested by friends, lots more … ready in time for Christmas!

Once damson picking was over, it seemed that the hedges were groaning with all their riches: elderberries; for chutneys and ketchup, rosehips for that lovely syrup, and the perennial favourite of the boys – blackberries, they rarely make it as far as the kitchen!

This week, sloes are ready to pick, the hedges all around are covered with them. I know you are supposed to wait for the first frosts, but as we rarely get one here before Christmas here, I prefer to pick them when their plump and juicy. Our first picking expedition was pretty productive, mainly as the boys were keen to earn some extra pocket money, and lots of fun was had daring each other to eat a sloe. For those of you who’ve never tried one straight off the tree, it does strange things to your mouth – reminiscent of going to the dentists!

The kitchen is a little hectic with muslin bags of apples and sloes hung up to drip, rosehips to sort and I spotted quinces at the farm shop today so membrillo next week. There is something soothingl about the smell of fruit stewing and I know from experience that when it gets dark and cold that bowl of porridge will taste great with a helping of compote or jam from all this fantastic fruit.

This year I had more space, so planted a good range from small winter squash to huge French pumpkins, although they have proved more popular than ever and I wonder if I should have planted more than I did. After all, once the initial hard work of making lots of ‘muck pits’ is done, they need relatively little attention.

  Of the smaller winter squash  Sweet dumpling has been a real success,  a stunning white and green colouring and  inside an almost parsnip taste. I also grew Hooligan again, a stripey orange variety with a good taste, but as its name implies it does like to take over:- both will store for months if left to cure.

Despite sowing Marina di Chioggia, a real warty looking number, I didn’t have much success this year despite good results in the past, just a few small tasters for home. On the other hand, Turks Turban really flourished, and they still never fail to amaze me with their own individual patterns swirling around and the bizarre knobbly turban structure, a few will be put on the table just to admire.

The winner for me in terms of taste, is a hard choice:  on one hand there’s Crown Prince a silvery outer skin hiding a dense orange flesh and considered one of the best for cooking, but I’m also struck by Rouge Vif D’etamp this year. A traditional French variety with heritage status, its a deep orange colour, flatter than most, with a sweet, buttery taste and can grow to an impressive size. The seeds are not widely available here but last year I found myself in a French supermarket en-route to my sisters wedding and when I spotted racks of seeds, I couldn’t resist – I’ll be saving plenty for next year!

As for the boys, they won’t be disappointed at Halloween, I’ve spotted a few specimens that didn’t quite get large enough to sell but will be great for carving.

After several trips with the wheelbarrow, I might need to cook up a little pumpkin and chickpea curry, while I ponder which varieties to grow next year. It’s certainly  going to be Rouge Vif D’etamps and I think Musquee de Provence which I didn’t bother with this year but have sadly missed.  I was  recently asked about one called ‘naked seed’, which I haven’t come across before so seed catalogues here I come….

It seems that cheese ‘cakes’ are growing in popularity, particularly at weddings, either instead of the traditional wedding cake or in addition. I’ll admit it was new to me, but hey I don’t get out much! I can see how a cake of cheese would be a stunning centrepiece and a great topic of conversation, at any occasion.

This seemed a really interesting opportunity to showcase edible flowers in a new way, so we agreed to meet and with a brief of edible and seasonal I picked a few contenders. The brambles were a must, so appropriate for September and who doesn’t like eating a blackberry! When arranged with rosemary, tiny sunflowers, honeysuckle and deep mahogany nasturtiums the effect was sumptuous, a real taste of autumn. Helens choice of tiny crab apples, Red Sentinel, looked great against the green of a wild garlic yarg, whilst alpine strawberries and dill delicately dressed a whole cheddar.

Apparently it was very well received and with endless combinations possible, the start of an exciting collaboration, my only regret was I never got to taste all that cheese!

And if you haven’t had a chance to visit Helens shop, then I strongly recommend it, just leave some for me!

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