Yet again I was more than delighted when the wonder gods of Woodbridge gave me more of their abundance.  This time I received bags and bags of broccoli, two types of Kale, Brussel sprouts, and the glossy leaves of coloured chard and silver beet.

I can only eat so much, so this time I dried all the pickings. At the same time I dried sliced onion and carrot. After 12 hours in my drying cabinet, these ingredients were squashed into the blender along with previously dried green marjoram, salt, white pepper and cayenne, and blitzed to powder. This dry mix was poured into glass jars ready to be used for cups of soup over winter.

I was also given freshly picked rhubarb (they bend limply when picked for a while and these sticks were firm).

Rhubarb and apple crumble is an exceptional treat.  So I picked some of my remaining Pink Lady apples which had, surprisingly, missed codling moth infiltration.

The rhubarb and apples were chopped and sliced and rested in a pan on slow heat without water or sugar for half an hour. In this time the juices began to release.

Only then did I sprinkle across a tiny amount of raw sugar and raise the temperature. I left them to stew gently for 10 minutes.  During those minutes I made a mixture of oatmeal flakes, honey, olive oil (if I wasn’t a vegan I would have used butter in this)., salt, a ground mix of linseeds almonds and sunflowers seeds, and cinnamon.  I added the slightest amount of almond milk sufficient to ensure these ingredients held at least roughly together.

The oven was set to heat to 200 degrees.

Once the stewed fruit was soft, this was poured into an oven bowl, the oatmeal mixture was spread on top and then, when the oven was sufficiently heated, the rhubarb and apple crumble went into the oven to slightly cook the oatmeal mixture and crisp its top.

About 15-20 minutes in the oven.  I contemplated using the oven’s grill but baking created the slightly toasted and slightly sticky top I love.

By the way, in the spirit of wasting nothing, all the paper bags which the produce arrived in are dry and ready to hold seeds when next I collect seeds from plants.  A marvellous multi-level gift.