Summer by the river and the living is easy...

Well, it's properly here. My harsh little water-meadow has emerged from the floods and the frosts, blossomed, bloomed and grown, dried, and now, finally, begun to ripen. We are into 6 - 8 weeks of abundance. In fact, my favourite type of blackberries hit their peak last week and are fading already but there are plenty of others still growing. The elderberries are turning dark, the sunniest sloes need just a night in the freezer to make them right and the plums are perhaps a week or two away. The second-best apple tree is more than ripe enough now, the apples sweet enough to be nice but still sharp enough to fizz on your tongue. The best one isn't far behind.

I've done a grand tour of the nut trees. The squirrels, greedy little short-sighted thingummies that they are, are attacking the hazelnuts before they're ripe so I don't know whether I'll get many or not. I don't know about chestnuts yet as the trees are too tall, but it looks like it'll be an outrageous year for walnuts. Not only is every tree full, but I'm finding more trees all the time.

This time of year sees me on more of a caveman diet, with berries now and nuts later forming a large part of my meals. I lose weight but gain health. I would have to say that harvest time is one of my favourite times of year, right up there with winter, spring, autumn and early summer.