An Easy Spicy Applesauce Cake

Hello Friends!

I don't know about you, but I am baking a lot more these days. Is it the craving for comfort food and something sweetly satisfying?  Is it driven by the need to do something familiar and soothing? Or is it the need to make sure nothing goes to waste?  I am using up a lot of out of date things that might otherwise have lingered too long in the cupboard and ended up wasted.  I know one thing, as a nation we must be baking a lot more as, following on from the toilet paper shortage of seven weeks ago, we now find ourselves struggling to find flour, sugar and eggs!

I found some chunky, home made applesauce lurking in the freezer. It has been there since last Autumn.  It needed using, and as I have not been baking much since Christmas I found I have some slightly out of date flour and baking fat that needed using up too.  I don't know why, I suddenly fancied an apple cake of some sort, so I Googled Applesauce Cake.  I found a lot of different recipes, so I took elements from several of them, converted from metric and cups into Imperial {I am an old fashioned girl when it comes to my baking} and devised my own recipe, which follows.

Cooling in the tin

A slice showing the chunky apple sauce and raisins

It makes quite a dense texture, maybe I didn't add enough baking powder?  Maybe I should have used self raising?  It is not unlike a Bread Pudding {do not confuse with a Bread and Butter Pudding}and for that reason I really like it.  A lot. It is good warm with yogurt, or a drizzle of Golden Syrup.

Here's what I did.

4 oz butter
7 oz sugar {I used golden granulated}
up to 10 oz apple sauce {smooth or chunky} unsweetened if using a sweet apple.
8 oz plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
a scant 1/4 fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder {optional}
2 oz dried fruit {cranberries, raisins, sultanas etc} optional
sugar for sprinkling {optional}

Cream together the butter and sugar.  Stir in about 8 oz of the apple sauce and combine well.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Add more apple sauce if mixture is too dry, and make sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
Tip into a greased and floured 20cm round baking tin.  Sprinkle with a little sugar, if using, or add when cake comes out of the oven, depending how you want it to look.
Bake on Gas Mark 4 for approximately 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Cool in tin for 15 minutes then carefully remove from tin to finish cooling.

I may try adding walnuts next time, which I think would be a good addition.  I will also bake it in a suitable loaf style pan too.

As there are no eggs, if you use a vegan baking fat I think it would be good for vegans too.

with home made yogurt for pudding

Next up to the oven are the two long term resident oranges in my fridge. I fancy an Orange Drizzle and maybe a small batch of Orange and Blueberry Muffins.  Waste Not, Want Not, and my freezer has space now, at last, but not for long.

Today is VE Day. Normally, street parties and all manner of social gatherings would have occurred, along with events from Buckingham Palace and all up and down the length and breadth of Great Britain, but Covid-19 has put a stop to almost all activities.  A lot of people put up bunting, and this afternoon a few of us gathered, carefully observing social distancing, in a neighbour's car port. We each brought our own cup of tea, and our own plates of food.  We sat, a good six feet apart, and chatted for over an hour.  Up and down our street similar groups gathered outside on the pavement. I cannot begin to tell you how good it was to talk to people face to face instead of over the phone, but it was a strange time too, celebrating that which brought us all closer together seventy five years ago, by keeping our distance from one another.

Here is my tray.  I picked a tiny posy from the garden, including Forget-Me-Nots and London Pride, which seemed appropriate inclusions, and Treasure had his own, special, tiny picnic hamper too.

Did you do anything to celebrate VE Day? I hope you managed something to alleviate the current mood.  We do know how to put on a good street party in Great Britain, and excel at celebrating all the anniversaries, jubilees and royal weddings!

Until next time
Deborah xo

As Winter nips at Autumn's heels ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ ah! our old friend Winter is starting to nip at the heels of Autumn, now long past her shining glory, with branches stripped bare, and leaves now so wet that stomping through a dry, crunchy mound à la Snoopy is a distant memory of which to dream ~~~ the sun drops lower and lower in the sky each passing day ~~~ shadows grow shorter and less defined ~~~ the weather changes daily, but always, always that hint of Winter breath chasing Autumn ~~~ 

~~~today the skies are blue and streaked with clouds of varying shades of bright and white ~~~ the sun shines ~~~ the winds are strangely still, barely breathing amongst the last remaining leaves that cling in desperation to the trees ~~~ most have fallen, blown away, or into piles that gather ‘neath the trees to moulder into rich feed for next year’s growth ~ the circle of life in perpetual motion ~~~

Here is a little recipe to warm you as the days close in around us and temperatures plummet ~~~ and all in all it is reasonably healthy, and we all need a little chocolate treat from time to time ~~~ a little pick~me~up ~~~

Spiced Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:
3 cups semi skim milk {almond milk or soya milk}
1 cup canned or homemade pumpkin puree
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
4 ounces good quality white chocolate (roughly chopped) such as Green and Blacks

Optional ~ whipped cream, sprinkles, marshmallows, or chocolate curls to decorate ~

~In a saucepan, heat the milk, pumpkin puree, and spices until it reaches simmering point; remove from heat.
~Add chocolate and stir until it has melted.

~Pour into mugs and top with decorations if desired. 

~~~Enjoy!!!

There is little progress in my garden, other than planting my Autumn onions, and having to be extremely careful with my back for the slightest wrong move sends it reeling, so it now must wait in patient silence until I can once more give it the full attention it needs and deserves. So I also wait I, but with fraying patience, for I cannot wait to be out there once more ~~~ meanwhile, I ease the longing by reading, greedily devouring, all the seed catalogues that arrive through my letter box ~~~ 

This is not my letter box, but I thought you'd like to see one of the very small, rural Post Office letter boxes that are often found, just as this one is, set into a wall on the corner of an isolated country lane ~~~

I am now calling the lawn a wildlife friendly area in the hopes that I can be forgiven for not mowing since mid~August. Each passing day I sigh and think how much the birds will love the seeds therein ~~~

I have taken advantage of a couple of patches of gentler weather, and managed, over the last two weeks, to turn over enough soil in the vegetable patch ready to receive a planting of onion sets that I'm certain were fed up of waiting to go in the ground! It is an experiment. I have never planted onions in the Autumn before, but apparently it can be done and they will yield a harvest in early Summer, so I hope this means June.  I bought a mixed bag of red, yellow, and white onion sets from Franchi Seeds of Italy. 

Oh, such bliss in those short, snatched moments to be out in the fresh air and in the garden {and yes, I was very careful} turning the soil, darkly damp, friable, and yielding ~~~ pulling out weeds and grass that took advantage of my absence and grew rampant and uncontrolled to fill the space ~~~ earlier this month, I also took advantage of a few hours where the rain was not so hard and the winds easier and planted up some garlic cloves in a spare tub or two.  Every little minute counts and even with a ten minute break in the weather the garlic can be planted.  I have no photographs yet, I don't think pictures of a seemingly empty tub of soil are that thrilling!

Dear Friends, it is such a beautiful day today in The Shire that my heart, in thought, leaps over the hills and skips across the valleys with pure delight ~~~ these are the days, so few and far between, that I long for as Autumn winds down the closing year ~~~

It is the kind of day that makes the most mundane of tasks a pleasure ~~~ for after days of blustering that would not delight Winnie, Piglet, Owl, and friends one jot, the wind has dropped to barely a whisper, all is calm and the sun is shining as bright as it can; there is a milky subtlety that brushes all the colours across the land into a softly muted palette that only Autumn brings. Light mists breathe gently and dust the undulations of the land in mild mystery and glistening dew drops of night catch the morning sun as it rises, dancing and dazzling through the bare trees ~~~

Gazing across this ancient land, where I am blessed to dwell, I delight in all I see ~ Autumn fields of softly muted greens made lush and rich by weeks of rain ~ the purple haze of heather skirts beneath the dark brown cap of a nearby hill that stands defined and proud against a milky blue sky ~ here and there are farmsteads with grazing cows in the pastures ~ sheep dot the slopes ~ a distant golden gorse bush shimmers, catching my eye as it echoes the golden morning sun; the day is welcomed in and all is well in the land I love ~~~


Until next time, Gentle Reader, remember that

~~~A Gardener's Work is Never Done ~~~

Introducing Emily ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ The weather is dreadful.  We shall not talk about it.  I have not been out in the garden for sometime, between the strong winds and gales, the rain, and my bad back I am letting the weeds grow and do their worst!  I could not mow the lawn during September for I could not push the mower and now the grass is long and wet, quite unsuitable for cutting, and looks so untidy and unkempt, but the birds and wildlife love it and are happy, so I am happy {as long as I don't look too hard at it all} ~~~

However, I am barely able to contain myself with great excitement ~~~ can you hear me sqeeeeealing with delight?  Long have I dreamed of owning a Kitchenaid stand mixer ~~~ by long, I mean over thirty years from the time I was a waitress and saw Chef using a Kitchenaid daily in the restaurant kitchen ~~~ I wanted one so badly that it hurt ~ I would go in to work early just to watch Chef use the Kitchenaid.  Oh, I had it bad ~~~

I dreamed in glorious technicolour dreams ~~~ then, one day I was given an Oster food center.  Now, don't get me wrong, I loved it, I used it daily, but it wasn't a Kitchenaid.  For over 20 years it served me well, but a few months back the arm that held the beaters cracked and it started to smell hot, that sort of burning rubber smell that does not bode well, and so my trusty servant of two decades left the building.  

I bought a hand mixer but after years of having a machine do the work for me, and with arthritis in my hands, it was not the easiest thing to hold and press buttons simultaneously while beating and whisking cakes.
The dough hooks that came with it were as useless for kneading bread dough as a chocolate fireguard ~~~ so I plodded on, but my heart returned to my dream machine ~~~

My birthday approached and I was asked what I would like ~~~ half joking I said "A Kitchenaid" ~~~ imagine my pure delight when that is exactly what I received for my birthday!  So, Gentle Readers ~ my dear friends ~ allow me to introduce Emily ~ yes, I have named my Kitchenaid ~ this is Emily ~~~ isn't she lovely? She looks as if she has always been here, in this very spot ~~~ perfectly at home ~~~

This is Emily in action, less than fifteen minutes after arriving in the cottage {it does not take long to open a box and quickly wash something to use for the first time} ~~~ making a whipped butter cream to fill a chocolate cake ~~~

Well, I could wax lyrical, but I shall try not to be the doting, overly proud owner of a Kitchenaid, so I will move on ~~~ 

Here is some useful information for any baker.  From time to time I am sure we have all had eggs in the house that are fast approaching their best before dates but we do not want to waste them if they are still usable in cooking and baking, but how can you tell if an egg is still fresh enough?  Well, here is a simple trick, and it really, really works!

How to test an egg for freshness ~~~ fill a deep jug or bowl with room temperature water and lower your eggs in.  Depending on what happens next tells you how fresh your eggs really are ~~~

~~~If they sink and lie on their side then they are perfectly fresh.
~~~If they sink and lie slightly at an upward angle, they are a few days old and still good.
~~~If they sink but are more upright in angle, then they are not quite as fresh, but still perfectly good and these are fine for baking.
~~~If, however, your egg does not sink but floats in the water, then it is stale and should be discarded.

It is all about the science and air content inside the egg ~ the more air, the less fresh the egg is, and the more upright it stands in the water and eventually a stale egg, which has a lot of air inside, floats. Simple!

This one was slightly raised and ended up in a chocolate cake ~~~

Here is a recipe for Bara Brith ~~~ This is a traditional Welsh fruit tea bread which is absolutely delicious and keeps quite well ~~~ I did this by hand as Emily had not arrived and does not require a lot of fast beating to incorporate air, more of a gentle stirring to bring the ingredients together.

Ingredients ~~~
6 oz currants {I used dried cranberries this time}
6 oz sultanas
8 oz soft brown sugar
10 fl oz hot strong black tea 
10 oz self raising flour
1 large egg, beaten

I also added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of ground cloves, {which are not traditional, but I like the flavour}

Make the tea. {I used Whittard of Chelsea's Spice Imperial leaf tea, but you can use any black tea you like, it is fine to try different tea to see which one you like best.  I plan to use Guinness in a future recipe as I am experimenting with flavours at the moment}

Put the dried fruit and sugar in a mixing bowl and pour over the strained hot tea. Leave to soak overnight, or for at least eight hours.  

When the fruit and liquid have soaked and you are ready to add the rest of the ingredients, grease and line a 2lb loaf pan and light your oven to Gas Mark 2 or 150*C and adjust your shelf to just below the middle of the oven.

Sift in the flour {spice if using} and the beaten egg ~~~

Bring the mixture together but do not beat ~~~

Pour into the prepared tin and level off ~~~

Bake for about 90 minutes, until risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean {I also like to listen to see if the cake is still 'singing' ~ a very good method to determine if a cake is cooked ~ if it is still singing it needs a few moments longer}

Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out on to a cooling rack and cool thoroughly before storing.  Bara Brith keeps well and improves in flavour after a few days ~ if you can keep from eating it fresh, that is ~~~

Mine had a little bit of sinking because I accidentally let go of the oven door when checking on it, but it didn't spoil the cake other than a slight dip in the middle ~~~

Turned upside down and you wouldn't even know!

I think it is best cut in slices about 1cm thick and spread with real butter ~~~ 

It is so easy I do hope you will give it a try.

Delicious served with a cup of hot tea and brings a little salve to my aching heart when I sit and look at the overgrown garden remembering that ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Raspberry Jam

Gentle Reader ~~~ raspberries galore means one of my most favourite jams is being made ~ the first batch of the season ~ in my kitchen this morning.

Usually, I pick small quantities of berries each morning and freeze them in small batches to make jam in the winter months ~~ this is a lovely thing to do during the dark, cold days of winter, when the winds are howling around the corners of my cottage, and the sun struggles to lift it's head out of bed, for it fills the cottage with the fragrant scents of summer berries and warmth, and gives something extra delicious to spread on toast or to fill a Victoria sponge.

I came to preserving several years ago when five courgette plants gave an incredible yield of fruits and that is when I found out how many people do not actually like courgettes {knock me down with a feather! I love courgettes!} and I could not give them away for love nor money.  I reckon that people who don't like courgettes have not had them properly cooked ~ they have had them as a watery mess either boiled {as I have seen some folks do, and I would not like them either} or in a badly made ratatouille {of which I ate my share in the 1980's} Now, don't get me wrong, I love ratatouille, but I like it a certain way and not full of overcooked, mushy vegetables.  More on that another time.  So, what to do with a glut of courgettes ~ even someone with my love of this fruit can only eat so many and it did not take long for my salad box to be overflowing.

Then, as serendipity would have it, I stumbled across a National Trust book that had a recipe for "Polesden Lacey's Courgette Chutney"  I'd never thought of preserving them, to be honest I thought there was a mystery beyond my ken for preserving.  The recipe looked easy enough, so I acquired a copy and off to my kitchen I went ~~ within a few hours I had made my first ever batch of chutney, my first ever attempt at making anything preserved at all.  I was over my mental block!  I put up jar upon jar upon jar that Autumn and suddenly I had no room in my kitchen store cupboards for anything else so I started, with a little trepidation, to give jars away.  I was anxious because I was giving this courgette chutney to people who did not like courgettes, and it was my first batch so it was up for judgement too!  To my immense relief everyone loved it!  Since then, it has become a big hit in my home made Christmas hampers that I give to friends and relatives too.  The rest as they say, is history.

These days, I make chutneys, pickles, jams, jellies, and all sorts of preserves.  My most favourite things to make are, naturally, preserving with things I grow myself.  I've invested in a proper preserving pan, I got mine from Lakeland Ltd, and they have a good range of preserving equipment.  Of course, other sources for supplies are available!

My recipe for jam is simple, and it is roughly the same whatever fruit I am using.  For every one pound of fruit use one pound of sugar.  How simple is that?

Here is my recipe for Raspberry Jam ~~

3lb of freshly picked, slightly under~ripe raspberries

3lb of sugar {I use preserving sugar which has added pectin to aid the setting}

You will need a preserving pan or large heavy bottomed saucepan, baking tray, sugar thermometer, ladle, wide mouth metal funnel {optional} sterilised jam jars and lids, wax paper lids {optional}, and labels.

•  Pick the fruit over to remove any hulls and debris.  Place in a preserving pan and warm very gently to release the juices and cook the fruit ~ about 20 minutes.  

• While this is happening, warm the sugar on a shallow tray in a low oven {this helps speed up the cooking time and ~hopefully~ stops the fruit breaking down so the jam has pieces of fruit in it}

• Add the warmed sugar to the cooked fruit and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a rapid boil and boil until 'setting point' is reached.  I use a jam thermometer with the setting marked.

• While the jam is reaching setting point, wash your jars and lids in warm, soapy water, rinse well and dry, and place on a baking tray in a low oven to sterilise the jars and lids.

• When the jam is ready, allow to cool slightly before carefully ladling into the sterilised jars.  A wide mouth metal funnel is very useful for this.  Place a waxed paper disk {if using} on top of the hot jam to help create an airtight seal.  Place the lid on and lightly screw down, tightening fully when the jars of jam are cool enough to handle.

Oh, and it is a good idea to have a few spare plates on hand to catch all the drippy bits!  You can eat these later, on fresh, crusty bread ~ cook's perks!

• Label with the date and store in a cool, dry place.  Jam can be eaten immediately, but is better after about a month to mature, and keeps for a year, or longer {it never lasts that long in this cottage}

As this batch is not for gifting, I used ordinary, recycled jam jars, but if giving as gifts use pretty or unusual jars, if you have them, and make hand~written labels and cloth covers for the lids and tie using pretty ribbon, raffia, or twine.

Remember ~~~ 

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Summertime ~~~ and the snails think it's easy!

Gentle Reader ~~~ Summer is now a few days old and Wimbledon is upon us again; I make no secret that I am relieved, for I would rather watch proverbial paint dry than watch the World Cup these days {remember, this is a one time 'wouldn't miss a game' 'dyed in the wool' soccer fan speaking, but these days Wimbledon, with strawberries and cream, and Pimm's or champagne is more for me}

We are basking each day in glorious, gentle, warm sunshine, tempered by {slightly irritating} stiff breezes which are whizzing and whipping things around the garden, and as I sit here I can hear the stiff rustling of trees full of dry leaves that are calling for rain.  The winds make it comfortable if you do not like the scorching, baking~hot days, but towards the end of this week there is a low pressure system currently journeying across the Atlantic towards Britain, bringing with it predicted thunderstorms and a lot of much needed rain, but also a substantial unseasonable dip in temperatures too.  Just as I have planted things out ~~~ I guess that means I am to blame?

Over the weekend I was given two tomato plants!  What a lovely thing to receive.  They already have fruit, and were in desperate need of potting on, so I cut open a grow bag {which will give feed for up to six weeks} and planted them, giving them good staking too, to keep them upright and sturdy against the winds while they settle in and put out new roots.  I put one on each end, and being the constantly thrifty person that I am I put a catch crop of mixed leaves that I brought on from seed a few weeks ago, I think it was May 26th I sowed them in a tray of cells.

Here are my two tomato plants with the catch crop of leaves in the middle ~~~

and the mixed leaves, which in a couple of weeks will be cutting and cropping for about six weeks into August ~~~

I think it was about June 2nd I sowed my soaked runner bean seeds and two germinated in the direct bin sowing, four in the cells, so yesterday afternoon I potted the cell grown ones in with the bin grown ones ~~~ the bin is wrapped with double layered bubble wrap to try and compensate for the wind chill factor ~~~

So, you can imagine my utter horror this very morning when I came out to four plants eaten {by something, probably slugs} overnight down to almost all but the growing tip {so that is something to be thankful for!} and two relatively intact plants ~~~ Garden Emergency Services to the rescue immediately!  I cut the bottoms off my stash of 2 litre water bottles and they are now placed securely over each individual plant in the hopes they will recover {as I said, the growing tips are still intact} very soon ~~~ I raised the bubble wrap blanket a little higher too, giving more protection and hopefully keep them better insulated to help them recover ~~~

Remember these guys?  Such pretty, but voracious devourers of my mullein {verbascum} plants?  Well, another horror story!  My lovely dwarf pink verbascum {below} has hardly any leaves and all the new flower buds are almost all eaten.  I came out to find the plant covered in these white, black, and yellow caterpillars merrily munching their way through all the juicy leaves and tasty buds ~~~ what to do now?  I cannot kill anything {I think the caterpillars, slugs, and snails all know this} nor do I use pesticides, so ~~~

 

 

I picked them off, one by one, and put them all down on the path hoping they would move on to some other garden ~~~ no sooner done than Mrs Blackbird arrived and promptly started to scoop up the offending bugs in her beak to flit off with a tasty feed for her hungry brood of chicks!  We helped each other out! ~~~

This is one corner of my garden, with a thousand shades of green ~~~ the rosemary {almost out of shot on the top left} I bought in 1995 and it moved house with me three times!  I have taken many cuttings over the years.  The oregano I bought at the same time and that has grown and seeded everywhere ~~~ it is in nooks and crannies, growing among the paving stones as it would in it's native Mediterranean habitat, and I use it in small tussie mussies along with other small, suitable flowers and foliage plants to give to friends.  See the lavender spikes pushing up in between the green?  I love to let things mingle and mix like this, softening each other and complimenting other plants ~~~

My sage is in full flower ~~~ beautiful, purple spikes on one of my favourite herbs {I love roasted sage leaves!}

Now, earlier in the year I said there would be departures, so, Gentle Reader, this is my first foray into sharing a simple recipe.  As a vegetarian I eat eggs, and I have a supply of lovely, fresh, organic, free range eggs available to me.  I do so long to have hens of my own, one day I will but for now I have to buy them.  Here is my recipe for a very simple egg salad ~~~ it is what this gardener loves to eat!  All measures are approximate and you can adjust everything according to your preference ~~~

First, hard boil four eggs ~~~

Peel them, and while still hot ~~~

Crush them in a ricer ~~~

This gives a really fine texture without any mashing around with a fork and stops them from going too mushy as they might in a processor ~~~

Working quickly, while the eggs are still warm, add 1oz unsalted butter, 1/2 oz butter spread {such as Flora or Utterly Butterly} 1 tablesp Heinz Salad Cream, season to taste with salt and pepper {I like lots of pepper as you can see, and I use Steenbergs Organic Four colour peppercorn mix }

Blend it all together and chill until ready to use.  It will keep overnight if you wish.  I love it on thick slices of home made bread and butter as an open sandwich, with a small salad of tomatoes and onions ~~~ or piled into lettuce leaf 'dishes' ~~~ Cos or Little Gem work well, I've even used it to fill cherry tomatoes ~~~

There, that wasn't so bad, was it?  How did I do?  Who knows, maybe next time I'll do cake! ~~~ of course, you can do more and adjust everything accordingly!  I've made it with finely chopped celery and onion too ~~~ but very finely chopped, and about a tablespoon of each ~~~ I hate to overpower the delicious organic eggs ~~~

Would you like to see some flowers now?  I thought you might, so here we are ~~~

I bought these Argyranthemums and crimson, highly scented dianthus in the local independent plant centre.  I will be potting up tomorrow ~~~

Can you imagine the fragrance from this David Austin rambling rose Frances E Lester?  It greets me every morning as I awake, for it is planted very near my bedroom window and the fragrance flood fills the cottage all Summer long ~~~ as well as the garden! ~~~ it is totally intoxicating ~~~

A pink osteospermum with a tiny, seeded grass ~~~

My dwarf clematis is not doing very well this year, hardly any flowers, they are much smaller than last year's flowering, which was quite magnificent.  They are also much more grey and the stripe is more defined I think. I am wondering if this is some sort of balance, after last year's all out effort ~~~

The herb Feverfew {in the background} is growing madly and I'm sure there will be much weeding and transplanting of seedlings next Spring, for it is prolific ~~~

Buttercups and Daisies are full the lawn ~~~ I have not mowed for three weeks, can't you tell?  I will be doing this job, which I really do not like, tomorrow evening as it is long overdue and with rain coming in towards the end of the week it is a job that needs to be out of the way ~~~

Here is a tiny jewel of a treat ~~~ an alpine strawberry ~~~ I have many hundreds of these plants that I have allowed to run through the borders as they please, for they are a great ground cover and weed suppressor and a tasty treat for the gardener going about her jobs, to find a tiny red morsel of sweet delight ~~~

The raspberries are nearly ready, in fact I picked my first one today and promptly ate it, forgetting to take a photograph to share ~~~ it was slightly under~ripe, but I could not help myself!  The few blackcurrants that have come this year may yield enough for one pie, which saddens me that there will not be jam for the Winter, for I value it for it's Vitamin C content as it makes a delicious warming and comforting drink with lemon and whisky if I catch a cold.  The gooseberries, too, are very nearly ready, almost ripe enough to pick so I shall check them daily now.  Things are moving as Summer days are with us, but remember that ~~~

 ~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~