Autumn approaches

The evenings are starting to draw in and it gets light later in the morning. There are a number of foggy starts to the day too. There is just the maize left to harvest and by the look of it the combines will be busy soon. Fields are ploughed and fertilized, the scent of autumn! Winter wheat will be planted soon and the cycle begins again. Before long I will clear out the veg patch and do the changes to get it back to two big beds. The potager idea was pretty but not practical. I need to be growing larger amounts of fruit and veg. I have one whole bed devoted to raspberries which have not fruited well this year so think it is time to remove them and start again in the spring. I wanted to move them anyway.
I am now picking pears and apples and cooking them. The pantry is filling up nicely with bottled fruit. Ready for winter puddings! A few we keep to eat but they go over too quickly and are better made into bottled fruit. Due to the huge effort to remove brambles there are no blackberries this year but I have many jars of last years jam and bags of blackberries in the freezer. Think I will make them into bramble jelly. I do not really need jam this year as am well stocked.
One thing I do need to get on with is chutney. We all love the courgette and tomato one I have made in the past but sadly there is no glut of courgettes this year! I will have to buy them which rather defeats the object! Oh well, we cannot be without chutney!
Today I plan to buy the big pot for cheese making. My first batch of cheddar will be under way soon. I had to save up for the pot as it is €30.. A big chunk of my weekly budget. Will report when it is done.
De cluttering continues but the big difference will come when the other two Gites are finished. I am hanging on to lots of extra household stuff that will go into them.
On Thursday we have a large delivery of concrete coming. This will be the garage floor. It has been a long time coming but the end is in sight. At some point we will change the barn door for garage doors but that will have to wait a while.
Work is progressing well and we are on track to market all three Gites next spring. I just hope we get bookings.