Today...

...we have been busy. We brought the wood that we chainsawed last week back up to Pissou, stacked it and covered it ready for logging at some point in the autumn. Andy then split the birch logs that have been drying under cover since the Spring and they are now stacked on the terrasse, ready for use.

Today, we have also been continuing our foraging efforts, with elderberries being top of the menu. From a kg of fruit.....we have made a litre of elderberry syrup. It is the first time I have used this fruit (apart from an experiment with elderberry wine a good number of years ago!) and I have to say I am very pleased with the result. According to David Lebovitz' website where I found the recipe, it has the following uses ..."a shot of the syrup in a glass of sparkling water over ice, drip some over plain yogurt or a bowl of vanilla ice cream, or use it to make a lively kir. And hello pancakes! It's also fabuloso with aged goat cheese". Yum! A handful of elderberries and a handful of blackberries were also added to a bottle of vodka where they will steep for the next month to eventually make a rather tasty liqueur

Tomorrow, I really need to make my courgette chutney. The only slight hiccup is that I appear to have run out of jam jars! Doh!