Well they do say you reap what you sow ....

I'm beginning to think that the highlight of the foraging year may just be the deep mid-winter. OK, so there isn't any fruit around (other than the last few crab apples clinging perilously to the trees) but now is the time to plunder the goodies we worked so hard to lay down over the summer.

Today we're having Hugh's Artichoke and Goat's cheese salad with our Sunday roast made with winter salad and Jerusalem artichokes from the garden with foraged hazlenuts. We're following it up with Mulled Quince and Pear crumble, assembled from quinces from the freezer (kindly donated by a friend), pears bottled in spiced cider (foraged) and some more hazlenuts (foraged).

The spice in the bottled pears is actually very strong and 3 small, chopped pears are enough to flavour the whole dish. I poured a little of the cider syrup over the fruit prior to cooking. As the warm, buttery smell of cloves and cinnamon wafts through the house there can be no doubt that Christmas is upon us. (Especially after our visit to Father Christmas this afternoon)

One of the joys of living in a small Norfolk market town is the impossibility of buying alcohol on a Sunday evening. Until recently we had 2 off licenses which meant we had until 8pm to buy wine but as the credit crunch has forced them to close we now have to rely on the supermarkets which close at 4pm. It's a pretty safe bet that about 4.05pm one of us will say "Did we pick up any wine to go with dinner?" - Doh. However, our foraging ways step in and save the day once more. Our store of fruit liqueurs and Quince cider will be pressed into service this evening, a tad unconventional perhaps but needs must.

Fresh November veggies.

This post now seems to be mocking me! Last Hurrah? Back in September? Pah! A quick 15 mins in the garden today produced more than enough veggies for tonight's dinner, which seems amazing to me as a novice winter gardener.

I harvested a large pile of Swiss Chard which has perked up immensely since September. I seem to remember at the time we had a prolonged dry spell which caused the powdery mildew to attack everything in sight. The near constant rain ever since has produced lots of lovely, strikingly verdant new leaves. I also dug up a large bowl of Jerusalem artichokes - the first of the crop and just a tiny fraction of what remains in the ground (the photo is of wizened artichoke stems against a winter sky). The Chard I'll steam and serve buttered with garlic and the artichokes will be tossed in seasoned flour and shallow fried til gorgeously, crispy, nutty brown.

The November radishes and salad are also vying for harvesting attention and the pak choi/tatsoi could do with thinning a bit. (Thinning! In November!) I do have to admit defeat with the butternut squash though, it's a huge plant, stretching halfway down the front garden and it made lots of flowers but none pollinated and we didn't get any fruit.

I'm quite proud of the amount of produce we get from our tiny garden. When planning next year's crops I'm going to give serious thought to maximising yields in relation to space used, more of which anon. Now I just need the pesky chickens to start laying again ......

Winter in the Veg Patch

This is the first year I've attempted to grow winter crops and, so far, it's not going too badly. Pictured are my winter radishes growing in their freecycle skyscraper. Their progress is much slower than their summer brethren but they're still trundling along in a persistent manner. Also pictured is my mizuna, the original sowing went the same way as the first crop of radishes - chomped by Very Hungry Caterpillars while we were on holiday in August. I've decided I'm a huge mizuna fan. This is the first time I've tried it, it's very reminiscent of rocket both in taste and texture but it's slightly softer and milder so I find it more acceptable as a salad or stir fry leaf on it's own.

The Jerusalem artichokes look just about ready to harvest so I'll be chopping down the withered stems and leaves at the weekend but leaving the chokes in the ground where I'll pull them up as needed. Last year I saved a few to re-plant in spring but I've since realised there's no need as there are always loads in the ground that get missed and sprout up again. (even the neighbours have 'benefitted' from an accidental crop)

The mini greenhouse is looking good too, planted up with Pak Choi, Tatsoi and winter salad. Something is chomping in there though and I'm not sure what, the damage isn't devastating enough for slugs but surely it's too cold for caterpillars in November?

Next project is to initiate the Bokashi composting system. I'm hoping this works out as conventional composting can be tricky in a small garden so fingers crossed.

Winter Preparations for the Garden.

Ugh, it's definitely winter. Poor old chooks are feeling very disgruntled. Digby is pictured listing her demands for winter which, judging by her expression, I'm guessing include a wood burner in the coop and some cosy slippers. Feathers has responded in a slightly more despondent fashion and has commenced moulting once more. I don't think this is the smartest move at the onset of winter but I'm not sure there's much I can do about it. I do feel sorry for her though, with her little baldy head getting all wet.

I have taken pity of them to a certain extent and bought 2m of clear polythene from the garden centre and pinned it over the run to shelter them from the worst of the weather. Sadly, the hemcore on the floor of the run has been well and truely soaked with today's persistent rain so that will need to be cleared out for maximum avian comfort (woodburners aside).

The borlotti beans are more than ready to harvest so once the rain stops I'll get that done which just leaves the Jerusalem artichokes in the ground. My plan is to chop the artichoke stems down as they seem to be dieing back but I'll leave the chokes in the ground and just dig them up as needed. Last year I seem to remember scraping snow of the ground in my efforts to get at them.

I'm enjoying my mizuna crop which tastes something akin to rocket. I've planted the mini greenhouse with winter salad, pak choi and tatsoi, all of which seem to be flourishing for the time being. I've also replanted the Grand Radish Project of 2009. Older readers may remember my initial radish crop was decimated by caterpillars while we were on holiday in August. The winter radishes have sprouted and need thinning, I'm not sure how long they'll survive, they were sown in a fit of optimism when we were having a warm September so fingers crossed.

Next on the list is getting to grips with the bokashi compost system and rejuvenating the soil over winter.

And was Jerusalem Builded Here?

Well, I may not have a bow of burning gold or a chariot of fire but yes, I have built a kind of Jerusalem in my Green and Pleasant garden (I'd like to say I'm showing off my knowledge of the lyrics of Jerusalem but I had to Google them and got a bit carried away)

Jerusalem artichokes are the most abundant crop in my garden. I grew them for the first time last year, during the thick snow last January I was out in the garden, hacking through the frozen soil to get to the dozens and dozens of artichokes down there. Over the season they were my only really true glut, I harvested about 3 bulging carrier bags full of tubers, which is an enormous amount from a patch of ground about 1.5m Square.

Opinion is divided on the culinary value of Jerusalem artichokes, apparently the French are particularly disparaging of them. Personally I love them and have 2 favourite recipes. The simplest way is to saute them gently in a single layer in a covered pan with a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper. For a slightly faffier version, cut them into chips shapes, coat with seasoned flour and shallow fry. They have a lovely nutty flavour, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

They are rich in insulin which is a mixed blessing as it's indigestible. This means the body doesn't absorb much in the way of calories from them so they're a great potato replacement if you're on a diet but it has the rather (cough) antisocial side effect of making a lot of wind in the gut. People do respond differently to the insulin though, some being more affected by wind than others.

They're difficult to get hold of in the shops which is why I decided to grow them. I bought some tubers last year then saved some of my harvest to re-plant this year. I needn't have bothered though as it's nigh on impossible to dig out each and every tuber and off spring of overlooked tubers are popping up unbidden all over the shop, one or two have emerged in a neighbour's garden - oops.

They're related to the sunflower, in some parts of the world they're known as the sun choke, and you can absolutely see that in the plant. They grow vertiginously tall, in the photo the fence behind them is about 6' tall and they're towering over it. The flowers, when they eventually appear, also look a bit like a stunted sunflower. They are somewhat over dominant in a small garden though, if our allotment goes through in the Autumn I'll be very glad to transplant them over there. Apparently they make an effective wind block on exposed ground so would suit the plot which is surrounded by open countryside.

The Menace lurking in the veg patch .....

.... The strawberry stranglers! Quite a David and Goliath story really. The strawberry plant is probably 6 inches high, has sent out one small runner and somehow managed to lasso and strangle a Jerusalem Artichoke about 5 feet tall. I'm not sure I should be sending the children out into the garden alone, might not see them again!