From Borea

Sorry I'm finding it so hard to be positive about this summer, but it really does seem like its been raining for fourty days and nights. Yesterday there was a breif period of sun and as I drove through Sussex there was a sudden appearance of combine harvesters in the fields. After a brief flurry of actvity the rain drove in once more and the farm machinary dissapeared.

The crops are plainly ready and need to be harvested, but also need ideally two days of dry weather before that is possible. We are in a position now where every single further day of bad weather risks the ruination of our cereal harvest. Apparently a huge part of the crop could be lost this year as unusable. That which is collected will have to be dried, at huge fossil fuel costs, and therefore look forward to the price of your loaf going up considerably this winter.

On the plus side the countryside is currently full of fruit, we have so mnay crab apples this year I dont know what to do with them all....already four kilos of jam so think Im ok on that front. The cooking apple tree is hanging low already and the surrounding fields are full of rowan, blackberry and hawthorn. As I've been trying to eat more wild food this year thna ever, I cant help feeling frustrated that so much food rots on the proverbial vine at this time of year, that we have lost so much of the know-how and facilities to pick, store and cook with wild food-stuffs.

Of course man doesnt live by food alone and so I'm looking frantically into how to turn the fruit into delicous booze on a large scale. Any cider recipes gratefully recieved.