Wealden Times | WT200 | October 2018 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Garden
Harvest
home
Jo Arnell celebrates the traditional
early autumn festival
It’s hard to remember a time before Wilderness, Latitude,
Glastonbury etc, but not so long ago there was only
one major festival in the British year – Harvest Festival.
Once a major event in the calendar, the harvest is as packed
with rituals and symbolism as it is produce. We are lucky
these days that most of our lives do not depend on the safe
gathering in of crops, but this is still an
important – and potent time of the year.
Whether you are busy harvesting gleaming
pumpkins and earthy roots and preparing
to dance pagan-style around wheat sheaves,
or are just scratching about at the back of
the cupboard for lacklustre tins of beans
and packets of rice to take into school or
church, the fruits of the season are ripe
and ready, and deserve to be celebrated.
Let’s head out to the patch, farm shop, market or even
into the hedgerows, and gather the harvest home.
Seasonal fruitfulness
Apples and pears are the fruits of the moment and local
events celebrating orchard fruits abound during October.
Brogdale in Faversham holds the national collection and
is home to over 2,000 apple varieties and 500 pears.
If you are thinking of buying an apple tree (or two, as they
normally need a pollinating partner), then this is the best
“If you are planning
to eat pumpkins,
rather than carve
them, don’t pick a
Halloween monster”
time to get out and about and sample different varieties.
Many orchards and suppliers have their own apple festivals
this month. Apple Day itself, an event started in 1990 to
celebrate both the fruit and a part of our lives that is in
danger of disappearing, is on 21st of the month. Brogdale’s
apple weekend is slightly earlier, on 13th/14th October.
Apples harvested towards the end
of the season tend to be cookers and
robust eaters. The good news about
these is that they store well through the
winter. Flavour is key and although the
supermarkets have improved their selection
of apples, there is nothing better than
eating an apple straight from the tree.
Good late varieties include ‘Egremont
Russet’, ‘Chivers Delight’ and ‘Blenheim
Orange’, which is great for both cooking and eating.
Beyond Halloween
Pumpkins abound this month, but if you are planning to eat
them, rather than carve them, don’t pick a Halloween monster.
Smaller pumpkins and squash have much more flavour.
There are some very beautiful and romantically named
pumpkins and squash available (there’s even one called
‘Cinderella’ that looks suitably coach-like); they
all have orange flesh, but very different skins.
Top left: This season’s apples Top Right: Borlotti beans in the veg patch Right: Big pumpkins are great for carving
153 wealdentimes.co.uk