Apples & lavender

 

We have a gnarled, ancient dwarf apple tree next to a long clump of lavender and I can't get over how nice the two look together when they're both in bloom. The plumpest red and green apples bending branches so low they skim the grass, against a backdrop of purple lavender brimming with honey bees and bumble bees.

(I sound like an old lady.)

The apple harvest is going on and on this year, every evening we come in from the garden with a few more handfuls. There are more apples than we can store or eat, more than we know what to do with. I already have plans for apple and blackberry kuchen (a Nigella Lawson recipe found here), apple pies, crumbles, stewed apples with yoghurt for breakfast, baked apples... Apparently the blackberry crop this year is going to be huge too - go for a ramble and you're bound to find some, even in the most un-rural of towns. I still can't believe people actually buy those expensive punnets of blackberries from the supermarkets when you can fill up a few Tupperwares for free!

I planted some wheat just for fun in the spring and it's finally gone tall and swishy and gold. Reminds me of going for walks across fields in Devon and Cornwall - which is where I'll be this time next week, at last! I'm in desperate need of a change of scene. Fingers crossed there's not too much rain.