I can’t pretend to be the greatest fruit-grower in the world. Unlike the figs and persimmons, apples & pears don’t arrive in great profusion at Glenmore. And so I take great delight when I discover one or two, and treat them more as one would a flower, rather than as something to eat. I leave them hanging for as long as I dare, to enjoy their speckled shape against the old ironbark timber of the Barn, where I planted them 20-something years ago. More often they make delightful ‘still-life’ subjects on the kitchen windowsill, rather than ending their life on a plate or chopping board!
I left these beauties hanging with 8 friends, until the inevitable bird attack at the weekend. But now they’re inside, there’s a very good chance that we may eat them….as apparently pears don’t ripen on the branch, but after picking, and they have yet to turn to their beautiful russet brown colour.
As for the apples….birds simply ALWAYS get there first. And usually when they’re just wee things. So I’m truly enjoying this vision down in the Kitchen Garden! Oh I’m so tempted to pluck & eat….but then it will be gone!