Autumn is coming

It's that time of year again.

The leaves are changing from green to orange, brown & red.

The last time we went to the park, it was literally raining conkers onto the playground.

My daughter and her friends gathered armfuls of these shiny beauties.

At the moment, it's still incredibly warm & sunny for Autumn-time in the UK.

I know I shouldn't, but I almost hanker for colder weather...I love my Winter clothes, my boots, my jumpers, my ridiculously large collection of fabric scarves, the comfort food...pies & roasts and I love hibernating at home on the dark evenings.

Ask me again in a few months time when we've had a dose of dreary UK weather & I'll be yearning for Spring & Summer again...

Look what we've grown!

2013 has been the first year my daughter has wanted to take an interest in gardening. It's something I'm really keen for her to get involved with. It's such a fun activity to share. She's loved watching the process of making paper pots and using them to plant seeds in back in Spring. Then in April we started to see the first signs of Spring and our seeds started to germinate.

Fast forward to Autumn and we're enjoying homegrown tomatoes, beetroot, rosemary, thyme, chives, mint and a lovely crop of apples from the tree we inherited from the previous owner.

She also helped me grow borage to attract the bees, bright orange nasturtiums and huge sunflowers. I tried to choose plants with large seeds, so that her little fingers could get to grips with them.

By growing our own vegetables, I think it helps my daughter to try new flavours because she's been involved with the growing process. She loves grated cooked beetroot mashed into potatoes with creme fraiche, lots of butter and some salt and pepper for seasoning...we call it 'purple mash' and it's amazing with sausages, fresh greens and lots of gravy!

I'm celebrating being outside with my child, enjoying the Autumn sun and linking up with Country Kids from Coombe Mill