Now we are well into the season of mellow fruitfullness its time to reflect on the growing harvests from our own plot. Its been uplifting to see the succession of crops through the seasons and exciting to see the potential for years to come.

The images below show from top left to right: hawthorn blossom, our first full combs of honey, edible flowers including marigolds, a basket of foraged leaves, a salad of foraged leaves, harvested edible flowers, miners lettuce, oyster mushrooms on our mushroom logs, pignut and nasturiums, raspberries, red cabbage and our first crop of Red Windsor apples.

Harvests start in the wild areas of our land in February and March with spring foraged sorrel and wild garlic, then to early rhubarb and the first soft fruits. As young salad leaves and the first edible flowers are ready the black and redcurrants start to ripen along with the first peas. Cherries and plums follow with the apples, quince and medlar starting to ripen. From late summer we reach peak harvests with courgettes, squash, beans raspberries, and buckets of wild blackberries. The foraging continues with elderberry, sloes, meadowsweet and crab apples and this year picking for the first time gelderberry.

The pictures below show from top left to right: white malope flowers, a pea pana cotta, John’s chillies, a saffron crocus, Emily with a crown Prince!, the spore print of a field mushroom, an Autumn harvest, apples and squash in the forest garden, the graft of an apple scion onto rootstock where the grafting tape has constricted growth, squash, teasles with bee and the flower from Oca (a tuber from South America)

As well as a supply of healthy organic food, these crops given inspiration for our menus, driving new inspiration and challenging us to make best use of them. Jamming, fermentation, drying and bottling are some of the ways we can preserve them but utilising in special menus for our guests gives us the most pleasure.

See some of our menus here.

If you would like to know more about our growing projects please contact Peter at: ask@pjtaste.co.uk