Summer slowly changes into Autumn, the colours of the landscape change from green to a golden hue and just now the trees are beginning to turn again. On Radio 5 there is much time to talk about the England/Pakistan cricket matches but what is happening to people affected by the flood in Pakistan goes without mention.
Up on top of the hills whortleberries are harvested with sloes coming soon. Whortleberries are about the same size as the nail on your little finger making picking them a slow process. Down below grapes are ripening, the last cucumber has been cut and carrots are lifted from the ground. Standardised supermarket carrots bear little resemblance to the uniqueness and the earthy flavour of organically grown carrots, with many having the shape of a small figure or other amusing similarities. Marrows, Squashes, Beetroot, French Beans, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Tomatoes and assorted salad leaves are harvested, along with Cobnuts.
The woods remain lush and dark and at this time of year many are impenetrable due to the scale of their overgrown condition, where attempting to pass through them would cause too much destruction they are best left to clear themselves for a while and for visitors to remain outside.
Horsetail Ferns can be seen in photo 12. They are called ferns though they are actually Equisetaceae, which has no direct affinity with any other group of British plants. These used to grow to the size of trees in the Carboniferous Period, but like the Dragonfly we now just have a smaller version. They grow in wet places and the dark green woods in these photos follow small rivers down to the sea and so remain well watered for most of the time. These small valleys are known locally as Combes whereas in Dorset and the Isle of Wight they are called Chines. The nights grow longer again as the planets above perfom their alignments and the wind in the Poplar tree sings a lower and darker note, signaling the change of the seasons.
6 comments:
Hi ,john , it seems nice golden autumn there in Devon , I think you have enjoyed walking across those fields that wear yellow dress.be ready for cold winter .
autumn is changeable season , sunny , windy , mybe rainy , just like us , moody .
but even that , we like his golden colours , and we love the change of nature , it means all new things , ideas , life , for us .
also , you still have that beautifull green plants , and trees , horsetail ferns are nice , at fact , i liked his name and his shape too.
{ wind sings } I like that so much , your writing is interesting too as your photos .
at last , world do not care about the disaster that happened there in Pakistan .
all best wishes for you and have good time .
Watching the media one would not realise that there are millions facing starvation. Yet if it was in Africa the photographers would be there shooting dying children with flies on their faces. But I guess that too would only last a few days. So much to see, why spend time on one event of human suffering.
Horsetail is my favourite herb after Golden Seal. It is excellent for stopping toothache and decay. It really works.
Surprised to hear about grapes growing there. Here we have long, hot dry summers. If it rains once the farmers weep for the grapes then succumb to mould. How on earth do they fare in that clime?
The miracle of it all.
Hi Evat and Su and thanks for your comments.
I am having a lot of bother with my internet connection at the moment. For the last couple of days it has been so slow that it has become almost unusable, so I will try to get back properly when things are sorted out better here.
thanks again for your comments and cheers for now!
Hey John. Well the garden here is all cleaned up and tilled for next season, it wasn't much of a growing season here, To cool and drawn out in spring to give most things a good start. However the freezers are full as is the root cellar so we are pretty much good to go for the winter.
And your right about the taste of the food, and the shapes. Some of those squash get pretty kinky and
suggestive.
Nice pics as per norm but nary one Crop Circle John, nary a one. What happed John, ET go HOME?
Hi John!
too long I have stayed away and I am sorry for that.
For myself that is..
Because I always have a lovely contemplative break when I visit.
I love the 2nd picture, i can see those clumps of grass blowing in the wind like fans swishing back and forth.
Then the last 5, so green and uncontrolled looking, I lov'em!
In the 4th picture, I see raspberry canes, but I am wondering, is that another kind of berry in the lower left corner,maybe gooseberries???
Curious?
I do hope all is well?
Hello everyone and thanks for all your comments and your patience.
evat, yes we are preparing for our winter here now and if last year is anything to go by it should be a long and cold one. We are just now thinking of getting the woodburner fired up again. Thank you for your considered observations.
su, it is odd now looking at the MSM and how so much of importance goes ignored. I value my time on the internet, being able to access other news and opinions. It has been such an education, filling in so many of the blank spaces.
Maybe I should go back and collect some of the Horsetail, it sounds like a useful herb and we should keep up the collection and cultivation of these things despite the idiocies of the authorities here. Stuff 'em I say.
Nice one Silverfish. I am glad that preparations go well there for you.
Funnily enough we had a local UFO event here a few weeks back. I missed it all but locals reported hearing a very loud noise like a plane about to crash going right over the town and out into the sea. Another says that they witnessed the object and that it had lights along the side. Nothing turned up in the sea and it was put down as a meteor event though this would seem unlikely due to the slow speed so this particular episode remains unidentified. By the sound of Pennys recent article we should be able to greet the ET's quite soon. I'll believe it when I see it, or maybe not.
Penny, I hope all is going well with you and yes it is a lovely and overgrowing place. I too love the lushness of this little valley. All the canes are blackberry I think, they are a bit blurred in the photo. A good source informs me that we have over 200 different types of Blackberry here.
Thanks everyone. It is always a pleasure to hear from you all.
Post a Comment