Autumn in the garden. It’s when everything starts to slow down enough for you to actually notice how much of a mess it’s all got.

While other Homesteaders:

✓cleaned cars

✓mowed lawns

✓ cleaned the upstairs sliding door (which I know for a fact has only been cleaned once before during our time here)

✓ did a little DIY on the water butt for reasons that will become clear in the fullness of time

I worked on getting the raspberries settled into their – hopefully – forever home. It’s been too long since homegrown raspberry jam was a Homestead pantry staple.

This relatively straightforward job has left me exhausted, sore, and yawning widely. But for next year’s jam?

Babette, who oversaw proceedings from atop the leaning tower of liquid compost, wonders whether my efforts wouldn’t have been better spent levelling up her vantage point but I disagree. .Raspberry jam on toast this time next year; so worth my overcooked-spaghetti arms!