Last week there were the first portents of serious autumn starting to happen - sadly not so much with vivid coloured leaves. I'm hoping that will yet happen, but fear that leaves will just go brown and fall with none of the flaming yellows and reds of a good brisk autumn. The trees need frost to trigger the colours, and the first forecast frosts for us are tonight and tomorrow night. Yesterday was a mad rush of getting the delicate plants under cover, both normal houseplants that have been out enjoying the weather, and those in pots that live outdoors but need to be kept frost free. Somehow when a shelf or a window sill is left empty over the summer, it acquires a load of other stuff, which then has to be moved.
The giant cristophine vine also warranted some protection as there are still some 15 viable fruits on it, and after a couple of days, it's going to get warmer again. We used to buy cheap garden shelters, but they were always getting caught by the wind and shredded, so we invested in a more permanent pergola for which I make covers. We still have a couple of cheap covers hidden away in the shed in case they came in useful, and one is now protecting the cristophine.
As you can see, there are still viable fruits, and we prefer to leave them on the vine to ripen up fully. By our reckoning, so far we have picked 18 fruits and there are still at least a dozen that are eating size on the vine, so it makes sense to try to keep it going until they are all ready.
On Thursday evening, as I was putting the chickens to bed, I heard a bit of tap-tap-tapping in the area, and looking across could see one of our neighbours trying to get the new slates onto the roof of the building he is renovating before the rain came. He was assisted in his task, as it was after 7:30pm so pretty dark, by the fact the building is right by a street light. Even so, he gave up as I think the shadows were falling unhelpfully, but all was not lost, as the promised rain turned out to be a scant 1 millimetre! He and his woman are doing a pretty amazing job on the roof.
Today I finally had no more excuses and got round to putting together the Christmas puddings. The raw mix as in the photo will stand overnight, fermenting, then will be stuffed into bowls and steamed for 10 hours tomorrow during the day, before being laid down until Christmas 2023 and 2024. It's not technical, it's just finding all the bits required and chopping, peeling, shredding and juicing. Once all the bits are ready, you just shove them in a bowl and mix a bit, and make wishes. The magic happens in the 24 hours after, as they rest and then are steamed. But the steaming is tomorrow's job.
This morning I got the steamer out and the mix into two basins and they are now cooking away, and keeping the kitchen warm.
It's not just us hunkering down - when I took the lid off the water butt to fill watering cans, I found two friends sheltering on the side of the barrel. Not natural playmates I would have said, but they seemed happy enough and not too cross with me for disturbing them. I put the lid back on when I had all the water I needed.
So that's it for the Monday update - apart from the fact that England won, France lost, and while today and tomorrow are cold, it will warm up again on Wednesday so the cover will come off the cristophine.
Have a good week!
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