With seed heads drying, spider silks gliding and leaves finally crunching underfoot, we’re now ready to admit that autumn is in fact, here. Misty, dew laden mornings have given way to either battering winds or oddly warm (but much enjoyed) afternoons. In our indoor growing spaces it feels a little like a second spring is underway. Where the tomato plants have been cut down, the stage for a new season has been reset…compost barrowed and raked, trays of salads, leaves and herb seedlings planted out in neat rows. These are the green things that will brighten many a winter plate this coming season, a heartening feeling when some of us aren’t ready to prepare for hibernation quite yet.
There’s finally a moment to notice the small things again; you can find ‘the good leaves’ on a walk, the smell of damp earth clings low to the ground all morning even when the sun is shining and Robin might have been following us around the garden all summer, but we have just now started catching him ducking and diving again. In the last few weeks we have seen a newt, a couple of gert big frogs and toads, flickering dragonflies, darting shrews, reassuring numbers of busy buzzy bees and a hopping jay bird alongside the usual abundance of avian wildlife we are lucky to host at the farm. The reddest thumbnail sized crab apples in Pete’s Orchard, along with the little tasty red apples (variety unknown) that cluster on the branches nearest the Bridal Suite are the very last things to pick from the trees. Our brassicas and kales continue to sprout the reliably green leaves that have become a mainstay of our Sunday lunch plates, and the garden team often have the pleasure of picking from five or six different varieties each week.
Despite our early summer doubts in the drought, the Great Pumpkin Harvest of 2026 has exceeded our expectations. Helped along with hands both big and small this month, our Toddle Taste families and school visit students have been busy loading squash by the dozen into wheelbarrows…many hands really do make light work on these big jobs and enthusiasm filled the air! There is something incredibly satisfying about the leaden weight of each one, with it comes a reassurance that this winter we can rely on them to fill our bellies, whatever the weather.
Every single cucurbit was then laid carefully out onto tables to cure in the sun, an important final part of the process to develop their flavour and texture as well as their ability to store well over the coming months. From now on you can expect them to feature in our menus weekly as fritti, cheesecakes, stuffed into fresh pasta with sage, pickled and ember roasted in our Sunday Roasts. Last year they were served thinly sliced and deep fried with a sharp salsa verde in buns at the festive market and are still talked about now.
And you didn’t ask, but yes, the preserving train chugs on! This week the apple juicer was out for the second press (a limited edition of 100 bottles available in the shop soon), crab apples are being painstakingly picked for crab apple butter…only when we reach the last two meddler trees in McGreggor’s garden, will we know that preserving for this season is done (and if you listen carefully enough you might hear the chefs in the kitchen rejoice).
Out in the fields things certainly haven’t slowed down just yet, mild weather has meant the grass has been quick to recover from a whole season of no rain. We can confirm the happy news that all twenty cows will be ready to calf from mid-March, (thank you for your efforts Bolly) and, with our new Shropshire ram Gordon joining the flerd, we hope to expect spring lambs right around the same time. It’s the time of year when farm paperwork and certifications come to the fore, vaccinations are administered and things like our annual Organic inspection take place.
It’s been our best season yet for a bountiful harvest from all the growing spaces (old and new) across the farm. A real sense of accomplishment has been felt across the whole team. No two days are ever the same at Nancarrow, now time allows our kitchen and front of house team to join in with gardening and farm projects of which there are rarely shortages! A few weeks ago, on a particularly clement Friday, we welcomed photographer Lulu Ash and her film camera to spend a ‘day in the life’ with us around the farm. It felt like the last chance to catch and celebrate one moment of a long season, before the cycle continues and what’s left behind becomes next year’s coveted compost. The pictures you’re seeing is a result of that lovely day, thank you Lulu.
Images courtesy of Lulu Ash
