Autumn

Autumn is the season of harvest for us, harvesting of grapes in particular (as we are winemakers) and much of our garden veg, but also foraging time for mushrooms, walnuts, hazelnuts, and fruit picking time in the orchard.

Building compost bins out of pallets at PumpjackPiddlewick

When we first moved to France to look after a petite Chateau, there were a few obvious projects that attracted our attention. The vegetable garden, which had gone to seed. And, the compost bins. Or rather the compost heap. Literally. It was a heap. As we wanted compost for theRead More →

We are cooking with Pumpkins at PumpjackPiddlewick

Whether it is images for Halloween or the cornucopia concept of harvest, autumn to me can be summed up in one word ~ Pumpkins.  There is something about these roly-poly orange veg that just makes me smile.  (Maybe that is why we are driven to carve toothy faces into them?)Read More →

We are nuts about hazelnuts here at PumpjackPiddlewick - Recipes included

I am nuts about nuts. I love to eat them, but even more so I love to cook with them ~ then eat them. Given the chance, I could spend on nuts what others spend at a coffee shop, easily and regularly. I can’t decide if walnuts or hazelnuts areRead More →

Continuing an autumn theme by making apple compote with PumpjackPiddlewick

Following on an apple theme, having written about making apple juice from  left over apple peels and cores, I thought it might be worth actually posting a recipe for what to with the actual apples. Make apple compote. But first you may ask, depending on where you live in theRead More →