Pumpkins, Apples and Autumn

The Pumpkin Hunt

Who knew that pumpkin picking was so much fun? So we have the traditional Christmas Tree hunt, and the first million trees you look at are not quite right well you can continue this tradition with pumpkins in Autumn!

So this year I decided to hold a small Halloween / Autumn Party. Now many of my friends will know that I’m not much for celebrating the “Commercial Holidays” however I decided this year to celebrate Autumn, one of my favorite seasons with a little party. And if you are going to hold a Halloween/Autumn shindig then you will definitely need pumpkins!! Where better to buy pumpkins, no not Tesco or Asda or even Waitrose just to get your free cup of coffee, but the local Farm Shop. Now they had loads, now I am not exaggerating when I said they had loads I mean they filled a gazebo with pumpkins of various sizes, but we didn’t want one that was already picked and cleaned for us, we wanted to go and pick our own. So like two children we excitedly wondered off into the outback to find a field full of pumpkins. Well I have never seen a field of pumpkins before and it was amazing. A sea of orange, it was magical if only I could grow pumpkins and not marrowkins. How can these guys grow millions of pumpkins and I can’t even grow one, I can grow a Venus Flytrap from a seed but growing a pumpkin well that’s just beyond me. Ok so pumpkins ticked off the list, the carving I will leave to my astute protégé aka My Husband.

Apples, Apples and More Apples

Next what to do with a tanker full of apples and pears! As I look through all my apple and pear recipes and try to find the recipe that uses the most apples and pears the best I can come up with is an apple pear crumble. Shame I don’t own a press to make apple juice or better still apple cider or even pear cider, maybe next year?

There are so many different varieties of apples, it is a mystery to me what type we have in our garden, all I know is one tree has beautiful delicious apples and the other well is a bit fluffy and watery to taste only good for baking in the oven or using as bobbing apples if you’re five or very drunk with no make up on, which you would probably never be considering its at a party. Note to self don’t do bobbing apples at our party. Anyway every year the RHS always put on an apple fair where you can take your apples down to a specialist and they will examine your apple and tell you what it is. I’ve never actually done this but I’ve heard its a great event if you’re near one.

Autumn Wreath

For our the Halloween / Autumn Party I decided to bring this back into the realms of not commercial scam but back to the theme of celebrating Autumn and Harvest by creating a wreath. Well I’m not very artistic, but I have an artistic husband and Pinterest to help so watch this space as I create an autumn wreath for the door. Who knows this might be my calling?

Autumn

Autumn has many great aspects, the first one I love is the different colours the trees display, an abundance of oranges, reds, brown, greens displayed in natures finest piece of art. Landscapes are transformed into new tapestry, your garden goes from a flowery summer scene to the aptly named Fall scene. Leaves are dropping, flower heads turn to seeds and natures winter architecture, apples and pears fall, ready for eating and cooking. It also beckons the start of the cold months where lets be honest we all like to get our winter wardrobe out and start to wear our jumpers and Ugg Boots without getting weird looks because its the middle of summer and its cold. I love the crisp mornings were its not too far into the cold wet weather that walking the dogs compares to walking on a sea of marbles. And when seeing the sun is like seeing a white peacock in a sea of blue Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) mesmerizing but extremely rare.

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love — that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” George Eliot