So my fall creations from the garden continue…sort of. These two delicious recipes ingredients came from someone else’s gardens, but they are tasty none-the-less, and are getting me prepared for when we have our fruit trees.

Our plan is to have peaches, pears, apricots, apples and cherries. I would love some citrus trees, but they do not do well in our climate, so I will have to settle for the ones that do grow well here. Not only will we be using the trees for their delicious harvests, but we also plan to use them as a living fence between us and one of our neighbours. We really like those neighbours, but we want our backyard to be as private as possible, and the trees will give us the privacy we need. Now, our conundrum in deciding to plant trees is that they are extremely hard to prune and harvest when growing on a slope, so we came up with a plan to try our hand at espalier. We will limit their growth and encourage the trees to grow along a frame that will give our living fence a bit of a form rather than big bushy trees.

I’ve really enjoyed ginger lately, becoming more like my dad every day. I had some leftover peaches from the farmers market that I wanted to use before they went bad, so I did a little research and found a few recipes that I took bits and pieces from to come up with this delightful recipe for a peach-ginger jam. I did share with my dad and plan to send some to my uncle.

My other craving was for some traditional marmalade. While we were on our trip in Newfoundland, it was offered everywhere. It reminded me of my gran and gramps, who always had marmalade when we were growing up. The only thing, was that the marmalade I was having in Newfoundland was good old “Kraft” packets, with very little rind, and a very sugary flavour. I started craving some proper marmalade, so I decided to make some. It turned out great. Nice and tart with lots of chunks of oranges and rind. The recipe takes two days, but it is definitely worth it!

Now to get back outside and get some more work done while we still can!