As I stand in the kitchen with elderberries simmering on the stove and apple and blackberry crumble cooking in the oven, I have the feeling that autumn is settling in. There is a particular feeling of wellbeing that I associate with the autumn harvests, more so than any other season, though each has its own peculiar kind of magic. Autumn is the season of nourishment, of protection and of the wonderful hedgerow bounty that provides it. You can smell the changing season in the air, feel it in the early morning chill and taste it in every ripening berry. And perhaps most peculiar of all, the very presence of autumn has within it the promise of spring as the tiny seeds of new beginnings ripen and fall into the Earth’s embrace.
Autumn skies can be some of the most beautiful. My husband took this little video from an upstairs window a couple of days ago showing the clouds rolling across the weald.
Before I get too caught up in autumnal reverie however, I wanted to share some of the highlights of my summer, not quite all of which has been spent pinned under a feeding baby!
June bought us bright sunshine and an abundance of elderflowers which I harvested mainly for diaphoretic teas.
The wild roses were as good as I can ever remember them, spilling over hedges and farm tracks with abandon.
The roses in my garden also put on a fine show, despite me having so little time to care for them this year.
The Downs enjoyed its usual display of wild flowers including eyebright, yellow loosestrife and common spotted orchid.
And what a wonderful year for butterflies it has been. It gives me hope for the future of our declining populations. There have been lots of small skippers and large whites (not pictured) along with the fabulous peacocks, tortoiseshells and commas.
Plenty of bees have been spotted hanging off the garden herbs too!
And once the summer flowers have faded there are still plenty of beautiful seed heads to enjoy.
All beautiful! Thank you for this glimpse of your world.
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Thank you!
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Lucinda, your blog is such a treasure! Just love your recapping of summer, the flora and butterfly photos. What a magical world you live in!
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Thank you Susan, such a lovely comment.
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I enjoy reading and also beautiful photos!
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Thanks Aida!
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Lovely photos, I must come and visit this idyll. I can also smell Autumn in the air-bring on the soups and stews!
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Yes indeed. Squashes and berries galore. 🙂
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Beautiful photos, by the looks of those wild roses, its going to be a bountyful year for hips as well, :o)
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Yes that was my thought too! 🙂 There look to be a lot but not quite ripe here yet.
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Beautiful Lucinda! The photos are amazing and I love Mark’s clip of the clouds, that is incredible x
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Thanks Colette! It’s a great little clip isn’t it. xx
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beautiful thoughts and pictures…as i am hiding from the 90 degree heat , i can feel the cool of fall !!! Thankyou for that reminder.
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Oh wow, I wish you gentle breezes.
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I love the way you name the plants in your beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing your world.
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I’m glad you find it helpful. 🙂
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Wonderful, Lucinda, as always. I am so glad you included eyebright. These tiny flowers are breathtaking close up, and so resilient for one so tiny, forever being crushed underfoot as they hide amongst the grasses.
I love your phrase about each seed falling to the ground to bury itself until the time is right for it to burst forth in Spring.
Thank you. Much love to you and your family x
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Yes it’s a lovely little flower isn’t it, so easy to miss it altogether when you walk past but, as you say, very beautiful close up.
I hope all is well with you. xx
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spectaclur pictures…wish I was there :)… enjoy
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Thanks!
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A friend of mine swims in the river every day, dipping into mountain snow melt even in winter. She wrote an amazing poem about how the light underwater changes in the fall, from the bright yellow of summer to the deeper green/gold. I walked through the woods today noticing the changes in light and sound as the forest begins to settle in. So reading this post was very timely. As always your photos are wonderful. I discovered this summer that bees preferred my oregano over all the other plants I grew. They simply swarmed the plant, so heavily the stalks bent under the weight. I’d never seen that before. And now you have the hibernating time of winter ahead of you, to settle in and cuddle with your child and watch how growth happens just like the seeds waiting for spring. I loved sitting in the dark before the fire, nursing my son that first winter. The house warm, shelves stocked, snow outside, and this tiny circle of life. I believe I envy you!
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That sounds like it would be a magical poem, I can almost imagine the different light playing on the river.
That is really interesting about the oregano, I haven’t noticed mine being more popular than any of my other bee friendly plants like borage and hyssop. I will have to keep a extra close eye on it next year.
We are not quite at the point of lighting the fire yet but it won’t be long. I was in the woods last week with a group of lovely women around a fire and Rowan seemed very fascinated by the flames.
xx
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I just loved this post — there is such a particular joy to autumn and you’ve captured it exactly. And well done to Mark for that stunning video! I’ve watched it about 5 times now sitting here, completely mesmerized. Thanks for sharing your usual loveliness and recounting all the special harvests of the year. XOXO
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Thank you Danielle. It’s a great video isn’t it. 🙂 The mists have been rolling over the Downs opposite us in the early evening and looking very spectacular so I’ll be encouraging him to do one of those too if he’s home from work in time.
xxxx
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It’s so lovely to be completely swept up into your world. Even though there are so many similarities of plants in Australia I’ve yet to see untended corners with wild roses running free like that!
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Hi Clara, thank you, yes the wild roses are a really beautiful sight cascading over the hedgerows. I will be harvesting the hips in the next couple of weeks which I am looking forward to. 🙂
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I’ve just spent the afternoon gathering various berries from hedgerows on the South Downs and thought I had better find some ideas of what to do with them, and came across this wonderful web site! I lead a fairly hectic work life so my favourite thing to do is venture out into nature and see what I can find. It is highly therapeutic, both the foraging and the preparation and cooking and I find myself almost entering a meditative state! For many years I retained the hangover of childhood; that “back to school” Sunday evening sadness at this time of year but now I find autumn exhilarating. There is so much out there to see and get involved in. It is also always worth remembering, that at this time of year it is the tiny buds of next year’s leaves which cause the autumn leave to fall. The promise of spring, regrowth and renewal!
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Hi Anthony,
I’m so glad you are enjoying the autumn bounty, it is such an exciting time of year isn’t it. It’s wonderful to read your comment, the South Downs is a special place indeed.
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One stunning photo after another. Those roses! Wow! And the butterflies! Amazing. Made me want to go run out to the garden, despite the fact that is 45 and raining 😉
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Thanks Celia,
It has been the best year for wild roses and rosehips that I can remember and a great year for garden roses too.
Running out in the rain sounds fun, though perhaps not at that temperature!
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Just thought I would pop over and read your last post. Baby must be keeping you very busy 🙂
It has been a wonderful year for flowers and fruits. The hedgerow here has been full of hips, haws and berries, a foragers delight.
I agree, a great year for butterflies…..it gives us hope for the future for this most delicate of species.
Lovely images and a most uplifting post on this dull November morning.
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Hi Cheryl, lovely to see you here again. 🙂
Yes he is keeping me very busy indeed, the garden is a terrible mess though probably good for wildlife as a result!
I hope everything is well in your beautiful garden.
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What a wonderful site. Love your review of this summer, as it reflects my own so closely. The heady scent of elderflowers is one of my favourites smells of early summer and we were also blessed with an abundance of Peacocks and Commas this year. I was only thinking this morning while out with the dogs that I have not seen so many Rosa Canina Rosehips growing along our walk and I felt some home remedies would be in the making this weekend. Thank you again for a great workshop at the Bristol Botanical Gardens, Ella
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Thank you Ella, I do hope you got the chance to make some lovely rosehip preparations, they seem to be just perfect where I live at the moment. It was great to see the abundance of butterflies wasn’t it, let us hope they continue to thrive in the coming years.
Lovely to meet you at the workshop and hope to see you again. x
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