Sweet Chestnuts!

This is just one of the dozens of chetnut trees on the slope behind the house.....this part of the lower mountain is full of these, and this year it seems like a bumper crop! That in its self is good for winter food stores and for a bumper stock of ground chestnut meal.... But it is also nature's way of warning of a bad winter ahead! In fact all the berry and winter fruit producing plants are bending under the weight of their crops this autumn.....

It wont be long before we are inundated by the 'incomers' traipsing up and down the mountainside collecting these chestnuts....and why not - they are free and in abundance. Just so long as these visitors don't do any damage to the woods - they are more than welcome by the 'locals'!

On many of the smaller mountain roads here you can just pull up and fill bag upon bag with chestnuts literally from the roadside. I shall be collecting mine and boiling some and roasting others. I've found an old saucepan which I'll hammer a few nail-holes through to put on the gas to roast them.

Now I'm getting ready to harvest my 'quinces' (they're almost ready) and try for the first time to make some quince jelly and some quince jam. It seems quite easy to do either jam or jelly, and I can't wait to taste it (if it works). The crop is poor quality this year, so there's not a lot to lose. Next year, following pruning the quality should be very good - I hope. So it's 'trial and error' now - with what I've got and learn ready for next year.