I love this time of year in the Okanagan; you'd be forgiven for thinking those hills are brown, but in the sun they are actually so many shades of gold. Phil and I ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches (Dad's specialty; he makes them with his own cheesebread for extra cheesiness) and oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies (Mom's specialty; they're fabulous).

I went for a beautiful walk with my sister along the Grey Canal. This was a complex irrigation system some 19 miles long that supplied water for North Okanagan orchards and farms in the 1890s. It's no longer in use, but the trails that the farmers once used in order to maintain the ditches built on trellises, have been restored and the result is a wonderful meandering walk with views of farmland and Swan Lake. Along our route we passed elderberries hanging in thick dusty purple clumps, choke cherries that are unbelievably dry and puckery, and rosehips rich in Vitamin C.

Monday morning before heading out of town we were lucky to catch the Vernon Farmers' Market. What a treat! We'd been before in late spring when there was hardly any food to speak of. This time the market was huge, with stall after stall of produce fresh from the fields and the trees. Bursting bags of spinach, stacks of sweet bright carrots, boxes of plump tomatoes, many kinds of garlic, several varieties of apples: perfect McIntosh, Honeycrips and Ginger Golds (which are fabulous, highly recommended if you've never tried them).

In addition to the usual suspects, Phil spied a farmer with a few baskets of greengage plums. They're not something you see here often, and not something I'd ever had. But Phil remembers greengages and greengage jam from his childhood in England. He bought a basket of them from the farmer and asked me very nicely if I'd consider making jam. It's quite hard to refuse Phil when he asks for a special treat, and the only reason I had for saying no was the fact that we already have about fifty jars of cherry, peach, apricot and blackberry jam. But what's one more type? This morning I went looking for a small-batch recipe. Here's the one I started with. I did a little tweaking and plan to sample the jam in a few minutes (baguettes are almost ready to go in the oven).