Michaelmas, or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, is celebrated on 29th September and is associated with the coming of Autumn and the shortening of days.

St Michael was one of the three main Archangels, along with Gabriel and Raphael. He was the Archangel of justice, strength, and courage and was the main man, chief of all the angels, and the one who fought Lucifer and his evil angels.

(I have to include the painting of The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel which we saw in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Brussels this summer!)

According to legend, Michaelmas was the day that St Michael expelled Lucifer from heaven, and as he fell from the skies, he landed in a blackberry bush. He cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath and stamped, spat and urinated on them so that they were no longer fit to eat. Because of this, tradition dictates that you should no longer pick blackberries after Michaelmas!

The blackberries that grow in my bramble filled garden are well and truly past their best by now and I wouldn’t even consider picking them, but to mark the occasion, I made a couple of mini blackberry and apple crumbles, using apples from our tree and blackberries from the freezer.

Apparently goose is traditionally eaten on Michaelmas but as a vegetarian that wasn’t going to be an option for me. I did find a reference to a Struan Michael though, which originates from Scotland and seems to vary between being a loaf of bread baked with oat, barley and rye flours or a bannock (a type of flat scone coated in a pancake type batter and cooked on a griddle) depending on which recipe you look at. I decided to try the bannock, although I improvised and took bits from several different recipes to create my own version.

Struan Michael would usually be made by the eldest daughter of the house, but my own daughter preferred to watch, claiming that I was also the eldest daughter and that it had been my idea to make them!

I made my struan by rolling out the dough quite thinly, cutting it into rounds (although you can make one large one) and cooking them on a griddle (or in a frying pan in my case!) until golden on both sides. Meanwhile, I whisked up the batter which was then liberally applied to one side before flipping and cooking and repeating at least three times to create layers. (Research tells me that this batter should be applied with a feather – maybe from the freshly plucked goose? – although I used a pastry brush!)

We ate the first batch for our breakfast with just the three layers as soon as they were ready, because they took a while to rustle up and we were hungry, and they were absolutely delicious.

The second batch had more layers because I wanted to use up the batter and, appetite sated, I had a bit more time to play with. You can see how tall they got with the extra layers here, but I can’t comment on whether they tasted any different as they are for enjoying with a cup of tea tomorrow!

It was a bit of an overcast day, but after our breakfast we continued to mark the day by heading out for a walk through nearby apple and pear orchards.

There were still lots of apples on the trees in some of the orchards

but picking was well underway in others.

Back home, as well as making a roast dinner to precede the aforementioned crumble, I dug out my collection of Autumn themed crockery, and my new seasonal teas,

and unpacked my box of Autumnal decorations.

As much as it pains me to say goodbye to the summer, the seasons have moved on and Autumn has arrived. It is time to embrace it.