A hot summer.

I always moan about the heat of Japanese summers, but this year was exceptional. Luckily we're past the worst of it now. This summer's combination of temperatures hovering just a tad under 40C on several occasions, and repeated long dry spells punctuated by torrential rains beat me, I'll be honest. Of course, weather like that was perfect for weeds so while I whimpered in whatever shade I could find, the weeds grew and grew. I'm just now back on top of things and the rice harvest is just around the corner.

Despite the weather, we got quite a lot done. Most importantly (to me, at least) I got a lot of hands-on time with the Elder we've been planting these past few years.

The trees we planted waaay back in 2014 bore a huge crop of both flowers and berries this year.

We harvested heaps of flowers and berries from these trees and experimented with a variety of recipes, and labels looking for the one we could turn into something we could sell with confidence. Introducing; Kocomo's Elderflower Fizz!

Having done that, we are now turning our attention to the berries. What will they become? You'll have to wait and see!

The trees we planted earlier this year have come on great guns too, actually, they're about twice the size of this now!

So we have our Elderflower Fizz coming to market over the next couple of weeks and a mystery berry concoction in the works... Watch this space!