70+ en

Now the last quinces have been picked and together with paradise apples made into jelly. Wash the quinces and cut in smaller bits. Remove stem and blossom ends and discard. Do the same with the paradise apples and cut them in halves. Put it in a pot and add water. Don't cover the fruit in water - only about ¾ of the fruit. Cook until tender (½-1 hour) - put it in a jelly straining bag and let strain till the next day.  Measure the juice and add sugar in the ratio  1 liter juice: 800 gram sugar. Cook for 10-20 minutes. Make the jelly test a couple of times, and when it is fine, remove from heat and add Atamon and put it in clean glass jars. Jelly test: Place a tsp hot jelly on a plate and cool (freezer 1 minute). If the surface wrinkles when you drag your finger through the middle of the  jelly, and if it the two edges you make when you drag your finger through the jelly doesn't run together - it is fine. If not continue cooking and repe...

This years harvest of heartnuts and the last bunches of grapes. The heartnuts are a bit cumbersome to harvest, because you have to scrub them thoroughly with eg.  a nailbrush before spreading them out to dry. First of course you have to remove the green peel. It is absolutely necessary to wear rubber gloves because else the peel and the black fibers on the nuts  will color your hands very much. When they are clean and dry they should be able to last very long. This is due to a thick nutshell (which makes them hard to crack) and a high content of antioxidants. I doubt we will be able to test that - my guess is that we will have eaten them long before - they taste well! The grapes have enjoyed the warm summer and produced bunches. Now it s the last ones. The little green grapes are self-sown and allowed to remain in the greenhouse. We have only ever had one vine with blue grapes, but seed propagation obviously doesn't always make identical species. You may also want to ...

Quercus palustris (North America) - Pin oak 5-6 km outside Lyons-la-Foret is an arboretum with  60 different species of trees planted in areas dependent on their continent of origin (Europe, Asia, America and also an area with trees from  the Mediterranean). There were also 40 different species of trees from the local area. Catalpa bignonioides (North America) - Indian Bean Tree  The arboretum is freely available and all trees are clearly marked. Liriodendron tulipifera (North America) - Tulip Tree  It was a fine place for a stroll and it took a couple of hours. Araucaria araucana (South America) - Monkey Puzzle Tree) There were gravel paths around each "continent", and also a folder with numbers and names regarding each group of trees, and furthermore suggestions for the walks enabling you to experience the whole area. Araucaria araucana - Monkey Puzzle Tree Nothofagus obliqua (South America) Patagonian oak Pinus griffithi...