This is the day the Lord has made

It is the third week of September, summer should have been over but instead it is clinging on with bravado, twining its fingers into the wispy sky and smoothing the sunshine into hidden corners, prying into winter's domain. We went sloe picking. We noticed them on our walks last year. One tree in particular had an abundance of large sloes, well rounded and glistening with the familiar musky covering that picks up the sunshine and turns them a deep-hued purple. We found a recipe online and used them to make slow berry jelly, musical, like sloe belly jelly, though the inference connected to a slow belly is unwarranted. The jelly turned out well. The apple padding for pectin and bulk, meant that it set perfectly, like one would expect purchased jelly to be. It's tart taste makes it a favourite for people without a very sweet tooth. This year, the sloes are everywhere. Each tree competing with another to display the prolific crop. We are still picking pailfills, hoping to freeze as many as possible for future use. Traditionally, they are picked after the first frost, which traditionally is supposed to be around now. But summer had different ideas...or is it better to say the Lord Jesus had different ideas? Our recipe this year has been to use far less apples, just one or two cupt us, pips core and all, for pectin. Surprisingly there is little difference in the taste, but it does make the jelly more authentically 'sloe berry' and not so much 'apple and sloe berry'. It takes time to pick sloes. Many of the best are out of reach. The physical job of picking them causes one to ponder. Each sloe is picked by hand, much like olives used to be. The community, one supposes, got together and went from orchard to orchard hand-picking the olives, eating, resting and chattering in the warmth as rest times allowed. Communal, productive and caring. No heavy equipment to give the tree hiccups after the determined shake. Does the shaking affect the fruit? Do the olive trees say 'No not again! Last year my roots broke up near the surface and it has taken all year to recover?' Who knows? And gone too is the community spirit. The young people are left with little means of self support and wander off to the cities looking for a 'better life'. No life in the open air, no enjoying the beauty of the world around them, no bird sounds, no simple meals. Is this really progress? SLOE BERRY RECIPE Wash the sloes. You do not need to de-stalk them Add one or two apples, cut up, core pips and all. Place in a pot and just cover with water. Boil until sloes are mushy. Use a potato masher to help this process if necessary. Skim foam off the top. Allow to cool down enough to handle Put through a muslin sieve. Mine looks like this. Allow to drip overnight. Do not squeeze. Measure the liquid in litres. Add sugar weight 75% of the liquid measurement. E.g. 900 ml = 900 x 75/100 = 67500 /100 = 675 grams Add the sugar to the pot, squeeze in juice of one lemon and bring to the boil. Turn down heat to medium and allow to boil until a sample of the liquid in a spoon starts to set. It turns tacky. Turn off heat. Pour into prepared jars (sterilized and hot) (I used clingfilm to cover the jars without lids unil I could get wax to seal them. Then just add a cloth cover sealed with a rubber band. Makes a nice gift for a friend.) This is the finished product