Boxing day is berry-picking day at my place. The red currants are ripened to perfection and safe for the moment under netting but the blackbirds and thrushes are getting more insistent. They've started on the gooseberries and blackcurrants, even though those are not quite ripe, so today it's off with the nets and picking as fast as we can til the redcurrants are safely inside on the kitchen table. The we'll net the other berries, give them a few days to sugar-up and do the same again. Meanwhile it'll be topping and tailing, freezing and jamming. There will be red currants for breakfast and desert. When the gooseberries come in, there will be fools to be had and pies. All the while, the blueberries will be fattening and blueing-up. By then the plums will be ripe and the early apples coming on. All of our nets will be deployed (there are over 90 apple trees), the figs will be ripe and the pears ready for picking.
No time to waste, I can hear the sharpening of beaks and the flutter of wings.
2 comments:
Bird your loins! Good to hear Robert! We've just picked 4.7kgs of Moeraki hedgerow gooseberries and turned them into jam and chutney, very satisfying. The reds are still hit and miss. Planting out more whites and blacks today. Cherry Crustmess!
I'm just glad we don't have crows Nick!
Hedgerows eh! Don't get me started!
Did you ever hear Bob Crowder and his plans for hedgerows across Canterbury? He was ignored naturally - dairy won out there but it's not too late. Start in Otago, work our way up. We'll do Southland.
I have a Chinese hawthorn that's producing haws for the first time this season. They're big. It came from Dick Roberts in Todd Valley.
Edible, I believe.
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