Slow Living in Rural England | Autumn Walk, Milling Our Own Flour & Homemade Elderberry Syrup

There's a particular kind of morning at the very start of autumn where the air has that first real bite to it, and something in you just wants to be outside. This week we went for a walk through the hedgerows near home, gathered elderberries growing wild along the way, and brought them back to make a proper batch of homemade elderberry syrup to see us through the colder months ahead. From there it was into the kitchen for fresh milled flour, homemade spelt chocolate chip muffins, and all the quiet, ordinary homemaking that fills our days here.

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Big-Batch Elderberry Cough Syrup — Strip about 2.25kg of ripe elderberries off their stems (discard stems, leaves and any unripe berries, as these are mildly toxic raw). Split the berries across three large pots, roughly 750g each, and to each pot add 3 litres of water, about 2½ tsp ground ginger, 3–4 cinnamon sticks, and 1 tsp whole cloves. Bring each pot to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 45–60 minutes until reduced by about half, stirring in around 57ml (4 tbsp) lemon juice per pot in the last 10 minutes. Once done, mash the softened berries in each pot to release more juice, then strain through a jelly bag or muslin-lined sieve into one shared large container, squeezing out as much liquid as possible and discarding the solids — do this for all three pots so you end up with one combined batch of liquid. Measure the total strained liquid, gently rewarm it if it's cooled, and stir in sugar in equal volume to what you measured (so for 8 litres of liquid, use about 8 litres of sugar) until fully dissolved. Pour into sterilised bottles, label with the date, and store in the fridge for up to 3 months or freeze in smaller portions for longer. A typical dose is 1 tbsp for adults or 1 tsp for kids during cold season — it's a folk remedy, not a medical treatment.
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Spelt Muffins:
I've been making these amazing fresh-milled spelt and kamut chocolate chip muffins — they're so wholesome but genuinely delicious. You mill the grains fresh (390g spelt and 260g kamut berries), whisk in a little vital wheat gluten, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, then combine with a wet mix of eggs, maple syrup, milk, melted butter, vanilla and orange zest. Fold in 400g of chocolate chips as gently as possible, fill your muffin cases generously, and bake at 200°C for 5 minutes before dropping to 180°C for around 15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. The kamut gives them this lovely buttery richness and the maple syrup keeps them beautifully moist — makes 24 and they freeze brilliantly too!


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