Tag Archives: fruit

Wild bananas

Sunday 29th January 2023, 10.40am (day 4,175)

Wild bananas, 29/1/23

Let it be said that I find bananas to be possibly the most revolting of all natural foods: I really cannot stand them. If they were the only foodstuff that I had access to, I’d starve to death. Which is a shame, because bunches — literally — of them grow all over St Helena, including many in Gareth’s garden, as shown here. And I quite like their strange, purple flower/appendages, dangling down like strange alien tongues. But even after they ripen, I’m not going to eat any, I can assure you.

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In Cheesus

Saturday 24th December 2022, 2.15pm (day 4,139)

Cheesus, 24/12/22

Cheesus being the name of one of the many eateries-stroke-cafĂ©-cum-bars that are now, by law, the only kind of retail establishment allowed to open in Hebden Bridge. It served a fine grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, and why not a Christ reference today — it is his birthday celebration tomorrow, after all. Enjoy tomorrow, however you intend to spend it.

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Horse chestnut

Friday 18th November 2022, 10.05am (day 4,103)

Horse chestnut, 18/11/22

Last day in Oxford on this trip. While having a cup of tea outside the museum (in the same place depicted on Tuesday), in more pleasant sunshine, my eye was caught by the profuse fruit on this horse chestnut tree. In my youth all these would have been harvested for the playing of conkers, but apparently Health & Safety has done for that tradition, at least officially. Mind you, all of these were some distance up in the air, so I guess they will come down in their own time.

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Garden apples

Thursday 6th October 2022, 7.35pm (day 4,060)

Apples in bowl, 6/10/22

On 6th October last year I was hauling myself up Yewbarrow in the Lake District and about to go to Canada for a week, but no similar adventures are taking place at the moment: this is the sixth shot out of seven to be taken in Hebden Bridge and the fourth in a row indoors. But at least the garden is producing. The monster fruits to the right may or may not be a function of these being pictured in a silver bowl.

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Fresh ingredients

Sunday 3rd July 2022, 4.55pm (day 3,965)

Berries and rosemary, 3/7/22

Summer fruits and rosemary. All picked from the garden just before this picture was taken: and all eaten, one way or another, within an hour afterwards. Most enjoyable.

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The wasp in the plum

Thursday 7th October 2021, 5.30pm (day 3,696)

Wasp in plum, 7/10/21

The last of the plums have finally been harvested off the tree. I’m leaving the rest for the wasps: this one’s already made a start on the bounty, as you can see.

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Moth, the sequel (with plums)

Monday 6th September 2021, 5.05pm (day 3,665)

Moth with plums, 6/9/21

Emboldened by the appearance of its fellow moth five weeks ago, this one flew over and demanded I did its close-ups. The plums in the background prove that the tree has eventually borne fruit, despite half of it giving up the ghost.

Unless I’ve miscounted — but you can’t prove this, so might as well take my word for it — this is the 1,499th picture on this blog to be taken in Hebden Bridge. Number 1,500 will be along before the week is out.

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Plum preservation

Thursday 19th August 2021, 12.05pm (day 3,647)

Plums in vodka, 19/8/21

Despite the propping up (an action which probably saved most of the remainder), half our plum tree has given up the ghost; the weight of the fruit was too much. So today I had a great many green plums to process. It was the fate of these ones to end up in a demijohn with sugar and vodka. Apparently, in a year, we’ll have slivovitz. Or, I’ll forget about them, stashed in the closet as they now are, and our descendants will rediscover them in forty years, playing host to entire new ecosystems.

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Tuco fruits

Monday 9th August 2021, 1.35pm (day 3,637)

Chillis, 9/8/21

Our latest chilli plant. It was Clare who christened it ‘Tuco’, after Tuco Salamanca, the ridiculously fiery Mexican in the first couple of seasons of Breaking Bad. Only we have already eaten one of the three fruits it has produced so far, and it turned out to be very mild, so perhaps it’s misnamed. We should call it Jesse Pinkman instead, perhaps.

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Propped plums

Monday 5th July 2021, 9.35am (day 3,602)

The plum tree is bearing a heavy load this year, and needed help. Banyan trees have worked out how to do this kind of thing for themselves, but not yet this species. The working week started with a trip to the builders’ merchants in order to acquire some long, stout bits of wood to prop up the most creaking branches.

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