<<< Just one depiction of The Green Man. He has many variations and is depicted in various forms around the world as a symbol of rebirth and regrowth come spring time. Now the one shown left, was until today "living here" but this afternoon he went on his travels to adorn the door of a Yurt that a friend of mine is currently building. A friend of years came to visit me and has already constructed the skeleton of his Yurt. Now for those of you that don't know, it is a portable, bent dwelling structure ( rather like a moveable tent but more rigid) and the word yurt originates from the Turkic word describing the imprint such a dwelling leaves on the ground. Probably most folk associate the image of this circular "tent" with Mongolian dwellings as Yak herders in that part of the world are well documented but in Mongolian they are known as a "Ger". They are easily moveable and complete construction takes approximately just two hours.
Anyway I digress as regular readers of my blog know I often do, he came to stay overnight. We caught up on how all his kids are doing, what he plans for the future etc etc and it was lovely to share an evening of singing and him playing guitar. Songs old and new and talk of the past and both our hopes for the future.
Now ... he asked me what the local sloes were like as he has for many years now been making sloe gin. It just so happened that I have just recently spotted a hedgerow, heavily laden with these somewhat bitter fruits. We had a grand time filling two carrier bags full of almost soft to the touch fruits. Now as I have mentioned before, it is traditional to wait for the first frosts to soften the fruits before pricking each individually and then soaking them in gin, until the liquid turns a dark luscious red. But ... with the modern freezer, one can cheat natures way a little and if one cannot afford that much gin at this time of year, one can always start another batch early next year.so, if you've never tried it, look on-line for recipes, it is really simple to make and just delicious and ... a lot of folk I know cannot leave it a year to mature. It is too tasty to wait for as long as a year.
That was just one sign of autumn fast approaching encroaching upon us ...
I found my very first conker of the year just the other day in lovely St Mary's churchyard.
and here just under the oak tree I came across the first boletus (an edible fungi)
But sadly, mouse or slug nibbled before I discovered it in amongst the acorns just falling.
But today to my delight the local mill was open so I was able to take my friend for a tour.
As I have mentioned before this mill celebrates 200 years and fully restored is working
though sadly not today as there was not enough wind power to get the sails turning.
But even so, it is fascinating to see the inner wooden gearings of this old mill.
My friend bought a bag of locally ground spelt to bake into bread for his family.
So ... a lovely visit. It is always good to catch up with old friends.
And ... another chance to photograph this lovely old mill, which has just had a new grindstone fitted, they just need wind enough to test it to see how it works.
Organically, wind powered milling. I think the Green Man would approve!.
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