Halloween

Hello Everyone,

It truly is ‘that time of the year’…the clocks have ‘gone back’, giving us an extra hour in bed but a totally confusing few days with a “what time is it really?” body clock. It is much lighter in the morning but the evenings are ‘drawing in’. Today sunrise is around 7am but sunset is at 4.36pm! Bob and I will have to stop being outside so late and in the dark even though it is Halloween 🎃! We are not going to dress up as a scarecrow and spookily prance around the tunnels or beds shouting “trick or treat” when the sun goes down. We do talk to our veggies but I think that is taking it to the extreme. 

For those buying the ‘seasonal box’ last week we hope you enjoy making pumpkin ‘jack-o-lanterns’ as well as eating pumpkin pie or casserole (that is what Bob and I had last night and it was delish) or making a lovely soup.

Halloween or ‘All Hallow’s Eve’, is the night before the Christian holy days of ‘All Saints’ Day’ and ‘All Souls’ Day’. As a good catholic girl (!), I do remember saying lots of prayers around these days for saints and people who had died. It is only now that I realise that Halloween is similar to Christmas Eve in that Halloween is the night before where you prepare to celebrate the lives of the loved ones who have gone. It can be seen as a Christian, Pagan or Festival root. Whatever it is, it is now a tradition or ritual and part of history…Google it as it is really worth reading.

The idea behind the ‘jack-o-lantern’ is interesting. Back in the day, people would offer to pray for the dead of others. They would visit the families of the recently departed, carrying the lantern to light the way for the dead to return to their earthly home and family or the lantern was thought to represent the dead. The lanterns were made from hollowed turnips…back in my day we had turnips, not pumpkins (they have it soooo easy these days!) and my Dad really struggled when making six! pumpkins from turnips…see! I am from a catholic family. 

Thank you to all those buying the jam and chutney last week…we sold out! I have made more chutney for this week. The red and green tomato chutney can be eaten as a chutney with cold cuts and cheese. However, I also like to add crème fraiche to the chutney which makes a lovely sauce to add to pasta, rice or vegetables. A very quick meal. The red onion chutney is really good for sarnies and amazing with Stilton cheese. All made from our own Fresh Local Organic Produce. Tasty.

Thank you for the lovely comments about this season's apple juice. We are delighted you are enjoying the taste. I also use the juice in our red onion chutney. It is also good when cooking sauces for pork dishes. The grandsons quite like it to.

As you may have noticed, the number of eggs we are getting from the chickens is getting less. This is mainly due to the lack of daylight. We do not keep them indoors and add unnatural lighting, although we have thought about it. Eggs will be on the website as and when we have them, so ‘keeeeep dancing!’, I mean looking. 

We are sooo happy that we keep the girls inside the vey large pens we erected earlier this year. The Avian Bird Flu has just not gone away. It is really sad to hear of the thousands of birds being culled, not great for the birds, farmers or your pocket!

All our crops are planted out and ready for overwintering apart from some lettuces, onions, shallots and garlic. The beds left without crops, will be covered and made ready for the spring of 2023… can you believe it! 

Where is the time going? Bob and I have now been proper farmers for six years! We have had some challenges during this time. We have learnt such a lot. We are hoping to be doing this for quite some time yet with many more years of Halloweens and rituals ‘under our belt’. (far toooo many speech marks in today’s journal! Sorry).

Trick or Treat,

 Ann👻