Return to South Farm

I returned to South Farm this week, which means it's time to dust off my old farming blog. Claire-belle decided to spend half of her birthday working when she dropped me off for a couple weeks. Much of the day was spent packed in a car full of five people zipping around the local area hunting for weeds. Like many other delectable plants (i.e. chamomile, blackberries, sloe berries....), elderflower bushes grow in ditches along the roads and nestled in nettles along fields. Elderflowers have a lovely, distinctive smell, and the flower heads can be used to make elderflower cordial or sparkling elderflower wine. (I would attempt to make some sort of clever pun here about Claire growing older while looking for elderflowers but I will spare the world my sad attempt.) The real essence of the elderflower flavour comes from the pollen, which is why we were assigned this mission on a bright, sunny morning with little wind. I don't suffer from seasonal allergies, but picking pollen-filled flowers the whole morning - often reaching overhead to do so - gave my nasal cavity some problems. We collected about 15 kg of flowers - less than expected perhaps in part because we were told off for picking flowers on private land (oops....). Back on the farm, we stripped the flowers away from any leaves, thick stems, and bugs to prepare them for cordial-brewing. Here's a rough recipe for elderflower cordial:


Elderflower Cordial
Ingredients:
15-30 elderflower heads (exact number depends on amount of pollen and size of heads), unwashed
~5-8 lemons and/or oranges, cut into wedges
sugar - 500 g per 1 L 
water


Heat water and sugar together until slightly syrupy. Allow to cool. In large bowl, combine citrus fruit and flowers. Pour cooled sugar water over and cover. Let sit for 2-3 days, stirring every 12 hours. Filter and serve mixed with water, soda water, or tonic water. 

 

 

 

Although I worked at the farm around the same time last year, the dry winter and cold, wet spring have delayed most of the crops. Last year I arrived to currants and cherries being harvested, tomato plants beginning to fruit, and all of the fields planted and happily growing; in contrast, this year I have arrived in the middle of the strawberry harvest and will be doing a great deal of planting. Today, we planted most of a field of runner beans because the initial planting (that's 600 plants!) died due to the weather-induced slug infestation. It is an amazing reminder of how dependent agriculture is on the local weather!


A mountain is the best medicine for a troubled mind. Seldom does man ponder his own insignificance. He thinks he is the master of all things. He thinks the world is his without bonds. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Only when he tramps the mountains alone, communing with nature, observing other insignificant creatures about him, to come and go as he will, does he awaken to his own short-lived presence on earth. - Finis Mitchell

Happy Birthday Claire!