In message , Emery Davis
writes

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:57:51 +0100, David Rance wrote:

Are you down in France now? The nights are getting cold, and fall
colours are starting early in some of the maples. It will be mushroom
season soon...

Yes, we're in Normandy. We have a glut of plums (hasn't everyone?) and
I'm making plum relish every other evening. I forgot to bring my recipe
for plum chutney over which is a bit annoying! My wife can't face the
thought of more plum jam so what else can I do with them?

Actually we are without plums. Not really sure why, and others around us
have them. A friend in the village has given us carte blanche to
collect, they weren't quite ripe last time I was there to water.

This is our first good plum harvest for four years. Last year they were
early, ripening in mid-July, and the birds had them. The year before
that the frost got the blossom. I think, though, that we're near the end
of the plums - just a day or two more - but the Reine Claude are just
beginning to ripen now so they'll be in full swing in a week or so.
We're planning a trip to Soligny-la-Trappe next Sunday and, if they
fulfil their promise and you would like some, we could drop some off on
our way through.

We always try to fit in a visit to the Abbaye de la Trappe during the
summer to attend their plainsong services and visit their wonderful
bookshop. Another reason for us "adopting" them is that their founder
was a certain Abbé de Rancé whom we fondly imagine was my ancestor
dating from his libertine period before he took holy orders! Complete
rubbish, of course, but my father liked to think that we originated from
Normandy.

I'll be grubbing up the mirabelle this winter, all the bark on one side
has died. Feh.

That's a shame. We have a greengage back in Reading that seemed to be
going the same way but my wife cut out all the rotten bits in the main
trunk and put Arbrex on it and it seems to have recovered and is growing
again strongly.

Going to have a good cider apple harvest this year, too.

Yes it looks like a good year for apples, needed after last year when
there were none at all. Not many pears though. A few peaches will be
ready in a week or so, but again a very small crop.

We've never had success with peaches or apricots. The trees just die on
us! We had a reasonable apple harvest last year and made sixty bottles
of cider, but it'll be in excess of that this year.

David

--
David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France