Ripeness is all.

Folklore tells us that Summer ends as the elderberries ripen. Indeed, the nights are cooler and the morning dew has returned. The damp underfoot on my morning walks is a true indicator that Autumn is here.

Early Autumn is a time of plenty, ripened fruits must be picked now before the damp and cold wind rot them. I used to be a serious jam and chutney maker converting the spoils of my gardening addiction. For those of you who do make your own preserves, remember to pick fruit on a dry day, early in the morning and away from busy roads.

Now is also a good time to collect wild herbs to make herb liqueur (collect the leaves of whatever you can find, except the poisonous ones obviously, soak them in a ceramic pot with pure alcohol. Strain after a few weeks, add sugar and store in corked bottles). Very good for digestion.

Ripe elderberries this morning. Photo copyright SvD.

Ripening grapes 'au naturel' and not in a greenhouse! Unheard of twenty years ago- the British Isles are getting warmer.

Photo taken last Sunday. Photo copyright SvD.

Filled in badger set, photo taken last Saturday. Photo copyright SvD.

And on a sadder note, Autumn is a time of culling unwanted animals before their breeding season begins in the Spring. This badger set has been filled in by the farmer after he extracted its inhabitants and disposed of them. This matter causes me a lot of sadness but I live next to a farm and it is not illegal to kill badgers neither is it my place to give the farmer a hard time as he permits me to roam all over his land.

The badgers I mentioned in my earlier posts are no more unfortunately.

At this time of the year we see the provocative ripeness in nature which also signifies an ending- the bejewelled fruits have reached their maturity, their end. And then there is the sad tale of the badgers whose end had nothing natural about it.