Joe McNamee: The low season of Autumn is full of boons and bounties

"I’m currently ‘in between’ gardens so will have none of my own produce this year but I’ll still find a day here and an evening there, to work with the harvest bounty of fine local growers."

Ceps (also known as porcini mushrooms) are a real autumnal treat but if you're nervous about foraging for wild mushrooms, Ballyhoura Mushrooms' dried ceps work just as well in risotto.

A woman I knew once told me she hated autumn, that it reminded her of approaching death.

I understood her point but couldn’t remotely relate to it.