We are now nestled in our Sunday of summer. A moment that drifts back and forth between seasons; a time where harvests are still abundant, and minds begin to turn towards the months ahead - to preserving, reflecting, taking stock and thinking of rest.

At this time of year, the land is rich with summer harvests and wild offerings, including all the crops that we have tended, and nature's own bounty of blackberries, elderberries, rosehips, sweet chestnuts and hazelnuts.

With the abundance offered at this time of year, and the ripe awareness of winter, there is much processing to be done. Now is a time to think of canning, drying and storing up the fruits of summer to unbottle on a mid-winter's day, and to save and store seeds for next year.

On the Farm: Harvesting and Processing Seeds

As the season begins to shift here on the farm, we are eager to make sure all of our seed harvests are done on time and processed before rainy days come to stay.

The most recent crop harvests to come in lately include our 'Sonja' sunflowers, 'Zinderella Peach' zinnias, 'Billy Buttons' craspedia and 'Collage' peppers. We have also just finished our final 'Gardener's Delight' tomato harvest, with enough seed processed for the next few years' worth of supply!

The seed processing room is notably busier, with seed crops soon moving from the drying pod into our packeting room. Certain crops take a lot more care and attention to process, whilst others make our job easier. We've been busily processing 'Salmon Queen' scabious, 'Kiiro' cosmos, 'Wild Garden' lettuce and 'Boltardy' beetroot, to name a few.

Preserving Summer Harvests

With abundant harvests coming in, and gluts to be found for certain successful crops, you may be thinking about storing some of this up for future use. There is a quiet triumph to be found in a bottle of roasted vegetables, or a bag of dried fruits, opened up on a dark winter day. Here's a few ideas to get you started...

Pickled Cucumbers

One way to preserve a glut of cucumbers is to pickle them. You can play around with the herbs used - I particularly like adding dill for flavour, and calendula flowers which keep their orange colour when pickled. Ideally, pick your cucumbers when they're just ready, not ones that have grown too large on the vine as these are more watery and offer less crunch. I like this recipe from Riverford: https://www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/cucumber-pickle.

Roasted and Bottled Tomatoes

A simple way that I like to preserve summer tomatoes is to roast and bottle them. I use plenty of tomatoes in my dishes at home, and opening a bottle of homegrown garden tomatoes is always a pleasure. It's nice to add herbs that you find in the garden too, like rosemary, marjoram, sage or basil, as well as garlic and chillies. Alternatively, you could keep it plain and add any additional flavours to your dish when you open the bottle up.

Method

1. Sterilise jars and lids
2. Add fresh tomatoes, herbs and spices to each jar, compacting them and leaving a 1 inch gap at the top
3. Screw lids on, then release slightly so they aren't very tight
4. Place on a tray in the oven
5. Turn the oven on to 220 degrees Celsius (it's important to only heat the oven up once the jars are inside, as sudden changes in temperature can cause glass to crack)
6. Roast for 60 minutes
7. Carefully remove from the oven, and screw the lids on tightly
8. Allow to cool.
9. Once cool, check that each jar has sealed by pressing the lid - if it pops back it has not sealed. You can repeat the roasting process again to reseal or store these unsealed ones in the fridge and use them soon.
10. Label and store somewhere cool, out of direct sunlight.

Dehydrated Elderberries

This year I have been experimenting with dehydrating fresh elderberries to use in tea mixtures. They are rich in antioxidants and vitamin C, offering a soothing immunity boost on winter days. For this, you can use a dehydrator, a low-temperature oven, or sunshine (if you're patient!). If you're harvesting wild elderberries, make sure you're confident with your identification knowledge, remove all stalks, and never consume elderberries raw as they contain harmful toxins.

Further reading - 'Preserves'

If you're interested in preserving or processing some more of your summer harvests, I can recommend this River Cottage book by Pam Corbin. It's readily available second hand, and contains a broad range of recipes and ideas.

With rain welcomed across the country, I expect many of you are noticing the land beginning to green and the soil slowly soften. Now is a good time to cut back summer crops and make space for winter seedlings. And, whilst it's raining, it's also a good time to enjoy some warmth and rest indoors!

Take care,

Izzy and the rest of the Vital Seeds team