Weeders' Weekly - Sharing Produce

I know I'm often grumbling (humorously, I hope) about either having no produce from the garden, or too much, but what I really love is having stuff to share. The main advantage is that I don't then feel bad about wasting fruit or marrows, but sometimes it works as a swap and I get something different in return - which is great

For example, I've given away blackcurrants and got blackcurrant jam back

I've taken a picnic of bread, cheese, wine and beer to a friend's allotment and come home with broad beans, redcurrants and tay berries (oh, and empty bottles)

And the other friend who came and did map reading and weeding and picking made redcurrant jelly from the allotment friend's fruit and gave me a jar of that (photo above)

I've been given eggs from my friend's chickens (thank you Runnerbean and Chickpea) in return for plums

And a beautifully presented grapefruit (ok, it's cheating a bit - he grew it on his organic fruit farm in Majorca) in return for a jar of home made chutney

And he gave me some almonds

But back to local stuff. Quinces have come back to me transformed into pickle and a delicious thing with almonds and cardamon (no photo available - it's eaten within hours of entering the house)

Quinces are wonderful - I'll do a whole blog post about them shortly, but first I must write that letter about the Brent libraries

Yes, marrows, nearly forgot. I'm not a big marrow fan - I prefer to catch them at the courgette stage. A modest marrow is lurking back right in this basket next to some lovely courgettes. But I have a friend who loves marrows and she has offered an apple cake in return whenever it's needed. Marrows are quite good in a homemade vegetable curry (along with runner beans which also got too big - pre-steamed a bit first)