How hard would it be to eat seasonally for a year...?
What would the health benefits be?
What would it mean to our local producers?
These are some of many questions I've been asking myself recently. I'm considering trying to eat and feed my family with only what is fresh or available locally and monitor the benefits. Will it be hard work? what will the benefits be? I stumbled upon a Sophie Dahl book recently and it inspired me seriously consider just that!
We started the process by the children and I gathering blackberries from our smallholding for the past few weeks. We have made pots and pots of blackberry jam and this past weekend we attempted our first 'Blackberry Syrup' which we've been using as an alternative to squash (it was delicious).
So now I want to try more...
For years we have had Rosehips growning in the the garden and fields and I've never known what to do with them. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even know they were edible! After speaking with my 80 year old aunt (Aunt Peg) she advised me that I could also make syrup out of the Rosehips and that she and my Father drank the syrup as children when thier parents couldn't buy squash. She also told me that you have to wait until the first frost before you harvest them. Apparently that is when they are at thier best. She's got 50 years more experience than me so I'll take her advice. That's next on the list to try so I'll post how we got on.
