Autumn

Autumn is probably my favourite time of year here in our wee patch of paradise.  I especially love the cool crisp mornings, warm days and cold nights.  I love that there is enough rain for the garden to flourish but not enough to keep one indoors for too long.  And I really love the smell of the Australian bush after the first rain cools everything down from the heat of Summer. There's pretty much nothing I don't love about Autum.

We know Autumn has settled in at our place when the chestnuts are ready for the brave (or foolhardy) to pick:

Yup, we were foolhardy enough to pick several kilos. I just can't bear the thought of the nuts going to waste.

The olives, quinces, figs and cumquats (Mum's) are ripe:

Those kept me busy in the kitchen. This year I made slow roasted quinces which I preserved using my trusty Vacola.  I made quince jelly to keep my lovely partner happy (it is fair to say he is addicted to quince jelly), quince liqueur, quince paste, dried quince, pickled quinces, quince BBQ sauce (thanks to my lovely sister and brother-in-law who got the recipe for me) and a really delicious quince and chestnut cake. Chestnut puree was required for the cake so, given the number of chestnuts we picked, I decided to make my own.  I am never doing that again.  Far out, my fingers are still recovering from peeling a kilo of chestnuts, twice!!  It took a couple of hours of work to peel them. And then another hour of cooking in milk to make the puree.  I don't mind the work, but it is really hard on one's fingers. I also made fig liqueur, fig paste, dried figs and glace figs. We had roasted figs stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in prosciutto and Fig and Raspberry Bakewell Tart.  I pickled Mum's cumquats and made cordial, which was a little too sweet for my liking. I'll reduce the sugar next time I make it. 

Autumn is also the time of year when mushrooms pop up all over our garden.  We're not brave enough to pick any for cooking. We're happy just to admire them. 

There are a bunch of changes in the garden during Autumn too.  The Japanese windflowers start blooming in Autumn and really cheer up the garden which always looks a bit shattered after summer:

I love the way the windflowers wave about in the breeze (hence their name).  I suspect the bees are slightly less happy about that aspect as they try to land on the flowers to collect the pollen. 

The natives we planted over the last few years start to burst out in flower:

And the deciduous plants start wearing their Autum colours before shedding their leaves for the winter:

These grapevines belong to Aylesbury Estate wines. They're Chardonnay grapes.  Of course, we had to do a taste test of the wine, given the grapes are just there.  It is a truly superb Chardonnay.  If you can get your hands on some you won't regret it. Unless you don't like Chardonnay of course. 

Every day the garden looks just a little more spectacular.  We have a carpet of different coloured leaves on our drive, as they trees shed.  I'm grateful that the previous owners of our home were amazing gardeners who creates such a delightful garden.  I just love living here. How lucky are we. Now we get to build on the garden to make it our own.