Simple pleasures

It's been a lovely day so far today. Tony and I went for a walk to one of our favourite spots and managed to pick a load more rosehips.  The hedgerows are filled with them at the moment and they are a wonderful source of vitamin c. Tomorrow I will turn them into rosehip syrup and add them to the food store.  Tony also picked some crab apples so that I can make some pectin.  I've never actually bought preserving sugar as my jams always give me a good  set but I think the extra vitamins and minerals from the crab apples won't do us any harm.

I wandered out into the garden and gathered a lovely mixed salad for Tony to take for his packed lunch tomorrow. The tomatoes that I picked the other week continue to ripen indoors and are really flavoursome. There is enough to last at least a month before we need to buy any. For a bit of extra flavour I added some diced pickled watermelon rind and some sauerkraut. It looks really pretty in the tub.  For breakfast at work he likes porridge oats mixed with yoghurt and mashed banana. I've stirred in a spoonful of rosehip syrup so that he gets an extra boost of vitamin c.

The garden continues to give me a lot of pleasure and it's brimming with late colour right now. I will need to think about potting up the pelargoniums pretty soon though as I doubt the weather will stay warm for very much longer.

                 

I have covered my little orange tree with a fleece bag. It's smothered in oranges and it's such a pity that we don't get the weather for them to ripen. At least I can use the zest and peel to make marmalade next year if the fruit stays on the tree.