September
is usually a beautiful, busy month. While the sun shines with diminishing
warmth I am usually to be found scurrying around hedgerows and my garden,
harvesting the last of flowers, fruits and seeds.
This year
feels different. After a dry summer which has caused the ground in the
Sanctuary to crack and the two minor springs to stop running entirely, the rain
has now come to ease our water problems but temperatures have plummeted.
Although I’m grateful, this now brings an added worry of whether the tomatoes
will ripen or will I lose my significant crop to rot? As it is, I’m now picking
every day or alternate days and using any damaged tomatoes in soup.
Two nettle
roots growing next to the tomatoes are constantly sending up new shoots, so
these are my autumn bounty for green minerals.
Spiced Tomato and Basil soup
1lb
tomatoes (or an amount you have to use)
2 medium potatoes
2 carrots
A large
handful of ripped basil leaves
One medium
onion
1 red
chilli (adding the seeds will produce a fiery soup!)
Peel, dice
and sweat the onion with the chopped chill until soft. Peel and slice the
potato and carrots and chop the tomatoes. Add vegetables to the cooked onions
and cover with 3 pints of cold water. Bring to the boil, adding seasoning and
basil (or any other favourite herbs). Simmer for half an hour with the saucepan
lid on until everything is cooked. Blend or liquidise, then strain through a sieve
to remove tomato skins.
Nettle, sweet potato and tomato soup
1 colander
full of fresh young nettles
1 large
sweet potato
1lb
tomatoes (or any amount you have to use)
2 carrots
4 cloves
of garlic
8” length
of lovage stem
1 medium
onion
1” fresh
root ginger
Peel and
crush the garlic and leave for fifteen minutes before cooking. Peel and dice
the onion and root ginger and sweat in a large saucepan with the crushed garlic
for five minutes in your oil of choice. Peel and slice the sweet potato and carrots.
Slice or chop the tomatoes. Wash the nettles if necessary. Add everything to
the saucepan and cover with 3 pints cold water. Bring to the boil adding the
chopped lovage and seasoning. Simmer for half an hour until everything is
cooked. Blend and sieve to remove tomato skins and any stringy bits from the
nettles.
September is
also the time of year to think about storing anti-virals and vitamin
C ready for the winter. My favourite method is elderberry elixir or cordial and
gathering as many rosehips as I can find and store.
Fire cider vinegar is another staple in my household. You can follow Rosemary Gladstar’s
original recipe of equal parts of fresh garlic, root ginger and horseradish root
but add in whatever spice you fancy. I always add rosehips for vitamin C but if
you have any fresh chillis they are good to complement the turmeric powder. If
you wanted to increase the mineral content of the vinegar you could add nettle
seed or fresh young nettle leaves or shoots if you have any.
Don’t
forget another autumn harvest, honey. Many beekeepers are collecting their
golden treasure this month, so if you have any near you, it is worth asking if
they will sell you a few pounds of fresh honey to last you over the winter.
Think what
you might want to add to this honey. Elderberries taste divine but make sure
you infuse it in the fridge if you don’t want purple overflow everywhere from
fermenting berries. Rosehip honey is another favourite but does involve hours
of cutting and scooping out the stones and hairs before blending the flesh with
the honey. It is worth waiting until after the first frost when the hips become
soft so you can squeeze out the centre without ending up with itching thumbs.
Don’t
forget your honeyed roots. Angelica and elecampane are two roots which produce
an interestingly flavoured infused honey which may be more palatable in this
form rather than in tea. You may want to experiment with sweet calamas root in
the same way if you have some to harvest. Don’t be surprised if your infused
honey is thinner than the original runny honey. This is the result of osmosis
whereby the honey pulls liquid from the fresh roots. It should store for
several years but keep an eye on it.
It looks
as if this year will be another good apple year. Windfalls from my tree are
producing many boxes of frozen applesauce and there are new jars of apple and
red currant jelly on the larder shelves. If you are looking for something
different to add to your complement of bitters, try rowan/mountain ash or
crampbark/Guelder rose berry and apple jelly. They will complement any rich
meat but also get your digestive juices flowing. Bitter jellies are an acquired
taste, so less is more when you try it for the first time.
One of the
most exciting things I heard at our festival was Fred Gillam talking about his
comfrey bath bombs for serious bruising following accidents and the news that a
London herbalist is experimenting with Crampbark flower and berry tinctures to
treat muscle cramps on different energetic levels.
Guess what
I’m going to be experimenting with this autumn!
