The sun and the rain have caused the fruit trees in my garden to bow. The branches are laden to the gunwhales with fruit. At the weekend we went brambling - to bramble, which is to gather brambles from the bushes - and I made a bramble and apple crumble with the fruits from the country lanes and apples from my garden.
I have damsons, pears, bramley apples and golden delicious apples all growing in abundance. I have been handing it out by the buckets to the neighbours. What to do with all this fruit? I have been testing the water with my own homemade damson, apple and cinnamon compote. It's delicious and I have been having it with muesli and greek yoghurt for breakfast. There is something wholly satisfying about breakfasting on fruit I have gathered, prepared and cooked. In a strange way it completes me. I feel as if I have renewed my relationship with Mother Nature. Up until recently, I felt very disconnected and I am feeling much happier to breathe in the country air, gather fruits from the trees and think about how I can make the most of them over the autumn.
My aim is to eventually live off grid and live a more sustainable life. I am new to it. Every great journey starts with a first step. I have entered into a community pig posse because I needed some overgrown land cleared. A man quoted me £1000 to clear it. Another man said 'get pigs, they'll turn it over in no time. But always get two, as pigs get lonely.' Then by chance I was talking neighbourly with a neighbour and they said they were going to get pigs. 'I want pigs,' I squealed like a pig. 'You could keep them on my land. Come and see.' So off we trotted down the road to check out the land and The Pig Posse was born.
These neighbourly folk had kept piggies before so they knew what to do, how to register, purchase, etc. They had all the paraphenalia and the vehicles to collect and all. In no time at all The Pig Posse had fenced the land, and then one day, out of the sunset, a tractor, erect with gigantic spike, balancing a pig house on it's tip, came trundling down the road and popped the pig house onto my land. The next week 6 Gloucester Old Spots were bought and over the last four months the posse have reared them. To watch piggies strip land is a sight to behold. Where there was weed and grass now lies only mud. They have been munching on horseradish, wild garlic and fallen damsons from the tree. We like to think that we are infusing them from the inside out.
The piggies are ready to become dinner. We are done with the husbandry. They went from being cute little porkers into big, bulky boars with pendulous testicles and a deep hungry grunt.
The slaughter, the butchering and smoking certain cuts is a whole new parlance to me. But I am so excited to eat my hand reared pork with my homemade stewed apples from my tree. Oink, oink from The Pig Posse and me.
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