An urban forage...

This morning I gathered 3lb elderberries, 2lb plums (greengages and victoria), 8 apples and 1 grape (just testing it!) all within the space of about half an hour.

Then I tried to make elderberry vinegar, but the recipe I followed didn't seem to work out, so it's not really vinegar at all - more like ketchup. Or perhaps syrup with a kick. Sweet and sour. But very yummy all the same and I might just make some more!

I also started some greengage vodka. It's kind of experimental. I imagine it will be quite sweet, and hopefully it'll end up a nice golden colour...

The apples taste nice, although they are a bit grubby so need cutting up rather than blindly shovelling in to the mouth! They are windfalls from an overhanging garden tree. The Victoria plums were also from a garden tree. And so was the grape :)

It sort-of feels like Autumn already.

Elder (Anthotype), May-Aug 2010

This is my first attempt at making an anthotype. The process is very simple - paper is coated in a vegetable dye, then an object is contact printed by exposure to the sun over a period of months. Here I've used Elderberry juice to make the dye, and an Elder leaf to make the image. The resulting print is not permanent and will fade if left out in daylight. But I think that's part of its charm really :)