We’ve been having a heatwave in the South East for weeks now. Temperatures keep climbing and rain (with the exclusion of one dramatic thunder storm) refuses to fall. Such balmy days are a joy, but they also bring their own challenges. Love them or hate them, long hot summers are here to stay.
As a power source, the sun is phenomenal. A good friend has just installed solar panels and I wish I could do the same, but I suspect my roof would disintegrate! (It is rather old.) I shall look into it further though, as free-standing ones are an option, and my garden is always filled with sunlight.
Sun baked
Even without solar panels, we can use the sun’s energy in place of the usual electric source. This week, I have been making sun tea – a most refreshing drink on a hot day. It is ludicrously simple. Find a large jam/Kilner jar and add tea to the strength you want. Fill with water and set outside in the sunshine. In a few hours, it will have infused. Add ice or water if too strong. Since the electric kettle is a greedy consumer of energy, this is a way to save it with minimum effort and expense.
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Delighted with my tea experiment, I decided to make fruit leather. I still have some apples left over from last year’s harvest and some delicious rhubarb in the freezer. (Thank you Liz and Peter!)
Fruit leather is simply pureed fruit, spread out on a tray and left to dry. However, it is painfully slow and I refuse to turn my oven on for 12 hours (even at a low temperature) to make it. Instead, I decided to try the old-fashioned option and leave it in the sun. Even in these very hot days, it did take a few to dry out completely and had to be left in the shed sometimes. (If flies are a problem, either cover your trays with a cloth ‘tent’ or keep in a well-lit place.)
But I’m delighted to say that it made the best fruit leather ever. You can easily find instructions on how to make it on YouTube, but essentially you only need to cook and puree the fruit of your choice – here apple and rhubarb – then spread in a .5 cm thick layer on grease-proof paper. Leave in the sun. The leather is ready when it lifts easily from the paper. If you find any wet patches, leave to dry further. Cut into narrow strips and roll up. Remember that even a tiny fruit roll contains a huge amount of fruit.
Of course, the other thing to air dry is your clothes. I was horrified to discover that washing lines are prohibited in certain communities in America. This is insanity. Tumble driers, like kettles, devour electricity. Air your clean laundry in public! The Earth will thank you.
Flower power
Biology lessons at school taught us the marvel that is photosynthesis: the ability of plants to transform sunlight into energy. The results are stunning. At this time of year, my garden is overflowing with blooms (and weeds) but they require a great deal of watering.
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Sunshine is lovely, but drought is not and I was a little concerned by the number of gardeners recommending drought resistant species to endure our longer, hotter summers. If we want to keep our British gardens blooming, we should consider how to minimise our fossil energy use.
The dark side of the sun
The sun can give all sorts of benefits from helping our bodies make vitamin D to improving mood by stimulating serotonin. Without care, however, it can do much damage too.
After a rather hot day in the sun, I noticed a rather angry red patch on my skin. It had always been a little odd and I had thought nothing of it, but now it was begging for attention.
Dutifully, I toddled off to see the doctor. Yes, it was a melanoma and yes, it would need to be frozen off (yuk) but hopefully it was benign.
With the sun’s ultra-violet rays increasing in intensity dramatically over the last thirty years, the days of sunbathing without sunscreen or as my sisters did, slathered in baby oil, are over. I confess to having been a little blase about applying sunscreen, but now I do that or cover up. Skin cancer is not on my agenda.
Sun and MS
I adore being out in the warm sun and I adore gardening. Sadly though, my MS does not. After an hour of very gentle weeding and deadheading the roses, I was completely washed out. I was even a little concerned that I’d make it back up the garden to the cool of the house and the sofa to lie down.
Fortunately, I made it and collapsed exhausted. It is a very strange state that is not sleep but is not consciousness either. One simply ‘shuts down’ in the same way a mobile phone will if left in the sun for too long. And like the phone, it will return to functioning at its own pace. Such things cannot be rushed.
At late afternoon, I had wrongly thought I would be safe, but the heat persists well into the evening now. I may have to start gardening just before bedtime.
Such irritations aside, these glorious summer days bring me immense pleasure and the opportunity to eat my meals outside and entertain Hermione whilst gardening or reading. The living is easy and delightful.
So while I enjoy the Mediterranean life-style this new normal brings, I am acutely aware that the sun is not always my friend. Like all power, solar power needs to be treated with caution and respect.
Next week there will be no post, as we are off to Sweden for a short holiday. I hope to return with news of all our adventures. Glad Midsommar to you all!