Be prepared........

........and expect the unexpected! Living the sort of life I do, when people get to know that you cook a lot and preserve, make, sew, etc, you very often find yoruself with unexpected gifts that can take on a variety of shapes and forms, not to mention amounts! One such gift last week was two giant cabbages, the biggest I've ever seen; also, one marrow, 4 very large overgrown courgettes and two rabbits. Now, when you get presented with things like this in the food line, you really do need to be able to drop things quickly and deal with them as soon as you can if they are likely to go off - it's a crime to waste food, so I find I need to be adaptable and put other things on the side for a while, while I deal with the priorities - fresh food being one of them. The rabbits were dealt with pronto, the marrow and courgettes and cabbages have kept fine, but I'm dealing with them today. Another thing that needs to be watched is your own harvests, so you can get the produce in at its peak and deal with it straight away - the picture shows my spectacularly laden damson tree (Merryweaather) as at yesterday. I check the fruit daily to make sure I can get it when it's exactly ripe for picking - fully ripe but beating the wasps to it! Once picked and in the kitchen, fruit needs to be dealt with, so things will get set aside whilst I stone the damsons for jam, wine, bottling, etc - probably most of a day's work, I should think. Same with the apples which will be ready very soon, although I need to get out and pick up the windfalls too.
I've often come home to find boxes and bags of stuff on the doorstep, or a pheasant hanging from the back door....... so often need to make the extra effort to get it processed/ used and stored away, even if it means working later into the evening than normal. Nature's bounty mustn't go to waste, especially if someone's taken the time, thought and effort to give it to you, and the unexpectedness keeps me on my toes.........LOL