Feels like winter is arriving

Frozen cobwebs through the chives.

It feels as though winter has arrived, we have had varying forecasts for the end of the week from -10°C overnight on Friday to one forecaster telling us we should consider ourselves lucky to be below 1000m otherwise the freezing rain of the past couple of days would have fallen as snow.

Luckily the rain clouds have cleared and yesterday was bright and sunny - albeit not very warm - it did however mean that I could get outside and catch up on some of the outstanding pre-winter jobs.

I had to write a list otherwise I would forget what I had intended to do

Over the afternoon:

fennel was cut for drying inside and the root balls transferred undercover in the hopes that they may regrow next year,

dried on the vine haricot beans were collected in,

broccoli heads cut for the freezer,

red and white cabbage cut for the freezer,

bean canes taken in and the twine rewound ready for next spring,

red tomatoes in the greenhouse harvested,

five jars of passata cooked,

last of the patty pan squashes cut and cooked for dinner,

dill seeds collected, dried and bottled,

field mushrooms chopped and left to dry in the warming oven overnight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrolepiota_procera

thanks again wikipedia 

I have just scrubbed the caps, removed the stalks and roughly chopped, then laid the pieces out on  baking trays and I will leave them in the warming oven of the Rayburn overnight and probably most of the next day.  Once dry traditionally they should be strung up to use, but I think I may put mine in a dry sterlie kilner jar.  To use they need to be soaked for about 4 hours before adding to a dish, but you can then use the soaking liquor to add flavour to soups and sauces too.

I have at least another two large bowl fulls of plum tomatoes to ripen, not sure if they will do so before it gets too cold in the greenhouse.

This time I just used the plum tomatoes and a little olive oil, salt and pepper, left them to simmer for 40 minutes then into some sterilised jars.  I make various flavoured sauces and a plain mix too to use for soups and as a base for ketchups.