I’ll tackle the subtitle first…post-festival blues. Anyone who has loved festivalling will know the feeling, you look forward to your favourite festi all year and in the blink of an eye its over and there are a long 51 weeks to wait until the next time. There are many great festivals, I was lucky enough to attend the Isle of Wight in June with my bestie which was a blast, but our special one is Beautiful Days, every August we head to Devon for a long weekend with great friends - some who we only see there once a year. As our mate Ritch said, it’s more important than Christmas (he writes The Restless Forge substack, I highly recommend it) and he’s right, our group always brings laughter and togetherness, something sorely lacking sometimes in everyday life. When it’s over, we all head back to our respective corners of the country and count the days until we are back in the field, safe in the knowledge that a good time will be had.
Now, on to the usual garden updates, namely the tomato glut! We grew three kinds this year, cherry, salad and beefsteak and it is the latter that are mostly coming thick and fast, and that means hours of pleasurable, therapeutic chopping and cooking of pasta sauce for the freezer. They are wonderfully gnarly, bumpy fruits which when grouped with our oregano, purple basil and garlic make a great base sauce for all kind of dishes.
The process of getting the ‘big saucepan’ out and having the kitchen smell like an Italian restaurant is pure pleasure, and so satisfying, with many more toms to come we should be enjoying them deep into winter added to soups, stews and pasta. It does feel a bit like we have tomatoes with every meal, and we do pretty much, but that is no hardship - our sandwiches and salads are epic and I look forward to this time of year for that and a greenhouse so full one has to battle through jungle-style!
Anyway, while I channel my inner ‘Nonna’ I hope you have a great weekend wherever you are, and enjoy the bank holiday if you are in the UK.