It has to be said that the photo doesn't accurately reflect this season's tomato harvest. But it's also the season for blackberries, which I realise are (and rightly so) considered an invasive weed in Australia. Nevertheless, and as those who know me well are aware, next to raspberries, blackberries are my favourite of the berry fruits and for me, the wild ones are far better than the cultivated, thornless variety. We inherited vines of the latter when we moved to this property, but they have a different flavour and just don't do it for me like wild ones do.
Despite having blackberry bushes growing up and down our road, until this season I've always been reluctant to pick their fruit from all but a couple of the more accessible places. It’s not because they've been sprayed (they haven't) but because by this time of the year the verges are too overgrown, and the culverts too steep, making them ideal habitat for snakes – or breaking an ankle! But because it's been so dry this summer, the vegetation hasn’t grown much and the blackberries are accessible. They aren't the greatest quality due to the lack of rain, but they're better than I thought they would be, so I’ve have had two decent picks from bushes that are pretty much opposite our driveway. Perfect. And thanks to generous neighbours and friends, we even have the apples for stewed blackberry and apple. Yum. There are still more berries to ripen, which will be even better quality now some of that promised rain has finally fallen.
Of course this is also the season for harvesting produce from the vegie garden, not that there’s been too much to pick this year due to some much colder than usual spring weather last October and November. We certainly aren’t alone in having a failed tomato crop, but for the first time ever I’ve had to resort to buying a box of tomatoes from the local vegie shop. Not to bottle or turn into sauce as some people do, but to cook them up with garlic, capsicum, chilli, onions etc, so there are takeaway containers of this mixture in the freezer to use through the winter months, as a base for casseroles and pasta dishes etc. This box was definitely a worthwhile purchase and has provided more containers than I expected.
Our chest freezer is therefore is looking reassuringly more full than I thought it would, with containers of berries, and stewed fruit on one side, and containers of tomato mixture on the other. Just the way I like to see it at this time of year, prepared for winter.
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