November 2000

The leaves are mostly fallen now, which makes the orchard look a bit sad, but autumn has its treats. Twice recently I have disturbed pheasants in the orchard. The ability of these birds to hide themselves until you are 2 or 3 yards away amazes me. It can be a shock as a bird the size of a chicken flies noisily up into the air from where it hid when it saw you coming!

Pheasants are natives of Asia and were introduced for shooting, a big money-spinner in Hampshire. Whatever you think about shooting, the countryside would be poorer without these birds. For 2 years a hen pheasant has reared a brood of chicks in our oldest orchard. Last year we found her sitting on a clutch of eggs, she sat tight although she could see us. Later we found the eggs hatched and caught occasional glimpses of the little ones as they grew. This year I saw her put on a display to protect her chicks (not that I’d harm them). This was quite amazing-she popped up when I was just 10 feet away and jumped up and down displaying, as if to say “come on, have a go if you’re hard enough!” She did this to distract me from her chicks nearby, if not for them she’d have flown away or stayed hidden. What a brave mother!

So apple harvest is over at last and we are winding down for Christmas. We gathered over 2 tons of apples, our best crop yet. We had a successful Apple Day, and although our website is not functional yet, at least one visitor found us through the Common Ground site, so the old and the new can work together!

This recipe we pinched from a restaurant in Simonsbath, Exmoor 15 years ago. We call it Somerset Sausages and it goes down well in our house. We use “eating” (dessert) apples for this recipe as the slices stay firm.

to serve 4

• 2lbs pork sausages
• 1lb sweet apples, cored, peeled and cut into segments.
• 1 or 2 onions
• half a pint of cider

Fry the sliced onion in a little oil. Add the sausages and cider, then the sliced apples. Cook until done! Add garlic, pepper, Worcester or soy sauce etc. as you like it. Serve with mashed potato. Wash down with….guess what!
More about cider next month.