Harvest Festival


I was reminded the other day of the wonderful Brambly Hedge stories written and illustrated by Jill Barklem.
When our two girls were small, we read some of the stories together and I still have those books on the bookshelf here.
I think I was captivated by the stories as much as were our daughters. It was the beautiful and detailed illustrations of the mice and their life of cosy self sufficiency which I loved; tales of mice eating buttered toast around a roaring fire and sipping steaming cups of blackberry leaf tea.
With the start of September comes the onset of autumn. The nights are drawing in. The blackberries and hips are starting to appear in hedgerows. I imagine the mice gathering in the wild harvest to see them through the long winter months.
Romantic and idealised I know but I love this whimsical illustration  from the Brambly Hedge Autumn Story.

I love the arrival of Autumn.
It is true that on the lottie and in the garden many plants are past their best. Decay is setting in, but with decay comes a final surge of fruitfulness.
The apples from our little 'Rosette' tree have been harvested. Now in its second full year it produced a good crop.



There is still lots of Swiss Chard to pick, as beautiful as any bouquet of flowers.


And just as all the other berries have gone, the luscious Autumn Bliss raspberries make an appearance.





All this talk of harvests and Autumn doesn't mean summer has completely deserted us though. Mr digandweed has a few days off next week and the forecast speaks of an Indian summer.

Let's hope so!
 





annjenny x



Comments

  1. What a lovely harvest. I loved the Brambly Hedge stories for their gorgeous illustrations and probably still have them somewhere.

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  2. I don't have children but I have the complete Brambly Hedge collection on my bookshelf, too. Autumn is my favourite time of year and your photos remind me why. They are beautiful!

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  3. Another fan of autumn here. Those apples and raspberries look so tempting!

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