Stuff yer bake

I went out into the fields this weekend with the intention of gathering armfuls of sloes from the hedgerows but the above picture is the sum total of our sloe harvest after two days foraging. Last year the bushes were heaving with them and I managed to turn over a kilo of sloes into two and a half litres of sloe gin, but this year the bushes were barren and the only ones we could see were either waist deep in nettles or just too high to reach. I am now regretting demolishing last years gin over a period of a couple of months as I have no sweet liqueur to see me through the winter. 



I did however spot lots of rose hips so I am going to attempt to make some rose hip syrup to drizzle on pancakes or stir into thick greek yoghurt. It means I have to go out into the hedgerows again at the weekend but if the weather is as nice as it was last weekend it won't be much of a hardship.