The sound of silence

We've been rather busy of late and not really doing very much that was interesting to report.  After coming back from our sojourn to the lakes, it has been mostly all about work rather than the lovely things we like doing back here at Hazel Cottage.  We did manage to fit in a visit to see family in Devon and see how happy the pigs and chickens are in their new homes.

It was great to get away even for a weekend, and just spend most of our time outside.   We also managed to collect the first lot of apples....

 We brought a few of them home and some have been made into rosemary jelly last weekend

 

I also made a few jars of raspberry jam from our home grown raspberries but didn't take a picture.  It was lucky that I didn't eat the raspberry jam straight from the pan as it was so lovely!  The other apples are now sat in our kitchen and larder, waiting for me to make apple crumble or apple jam

The brambles are coming into full fruit here, although they were a little behind in Devon still.

 

"In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke their tender limbs."
-  Henry David Thoreau 

 

Everything in the garden is starting to look as if it has overreached itself and it starting to look tired.  There is very little that is flowering in the garden, which makes me think about how I can change the garden next year.  As soon as I do that, I want it to be autumn and I can start cutting back.  I must remember to listen to Thoreau again:

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”