" Lazy is a very strong word, I like to call it 'selective participation.' "

As much as i would love to waffle on about our weekend, its late, I am tired and i want early night so that we can continue our summer adventures early tomorrow morning. Tonight our usual adventure filled stories will be replaced by photos. Yes i am a lazy boy! enjoy.

“Only the knife knows what goes on in the heart of a pumpkin.”

Every year around Halloween we head down to Essington farm to pick our Halloween pumpkins for carving. Last year because of all the bad weather all the crops had been rained off and there was none to pick (sad faces all round). So this year we phoned ahead to see if there were pumpkins for picking. They don't start their tractor ride to the field until next week but they said we could make our own way up there and pick away.

Not the best of days for traipsing around a muddy farm but then that sums us up, picking out door activities to do on the wrong days. It's only a bit of rain though and we make our own fun whether its sunny or gloomy. We made it to the pumpkin field and despite the 'no entry' sign on the gate we headed in, we had been told it was okay after all.

The boys picked a pumpkin each and we brushed them off as best we could and put them in a bag to take them to the farm shop. Opeie's little pumpkin was so cute and were going to do something extra fun with that one.

And then we got told off by a farmer, oops! Apparently we were not supposed to be in that field until next week but we explained that we had phoned ahead of the visit and was told it was okay. Trust us to cause trouble wherever we go. The friendly farmer was fine though and apologised for the confusion.

Well our pumpkins have been brought now so next is a bit of creativity, stay tuned for what we actually use our pumpkins for, should be fun.

"You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is."

Over the past few weeks we have become a family of scrumpers, foraging for food wherever we can find it. It all started when Mrs M took us to an apple tree not far from where she used to live, turns out though that there are literally apple trees everywhere, I've just never paid much attention until now.

So armed with our supermarket hessian bags or apple sacks as they have now become we have been Investigating all over and have been lucky enough to have picked around 10 large bags of various kinds of the juicy treat (three of those this morning).

The boys have really been getting involved and our foraging exploits have been teaching them a valuable lesson in sustainability. It's also great for teaching them to respect the food that they eat (plus it always tastes that little bit better when you know you have picked it yourself).

It's not just apples that have been getting all our attention though. We've found plums and pears in a derelict monastery orchard which was a great find, elderberries, hazelnuts and buckets of blackberries (which you can find everywhere this time of year). We've definitely taken full advantage of our surrounding area and had lots of fun in the process. If people could see Mrs M riding around on my shoulders, us giggling like teenagers while she reaches for apples they would think we were hilarious.

Recently Mrs M has gone into her usual preparation for hibernation mode, which she does every year for winter, so our new found love of foraging means that there are plenty of pies in the freezer ready for thoring out, bags of peeled and cored apples for winter cooking, not to mention a lovely selection of chutneys and jams. Mrs M's squirrel like tendencies are adorable and she really looks after me and the boys, we will always be eternally greatful for what she does for us. We're a great team and doing everything as a family is so important, it keeps us close. We will continue to forage while the fruit is available and will definitely be more prepared for next years harvest.

"The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures."

Time for one of my lazy posts i think,  It was another sunny day in shropshire this morning and although i was hot and bothered and in an irritable mood because i was tired we decided to go out for a few hours down to Essington farm for a bit of pick your own fruit and veg. We only got to pick Strawberries and Beetroot as the other things we wanted wont be ready for a few weeks, Opeie had a great time though and it was nice pottering around the farm in the heat. Enjoy the pics because its dinner time and this is all the writing for this evening as i have comics to catch up on...

The strawberries were delicious!!!