· James Torr · Personal · 1 min read
My first ever ripe fig. Pity not all of them are as ripe as this. Picked and enjoyed today. All the sun we’ve had this year must have pushed this to be edible, and monstrous too. And delicious it was.
Elm flowers are out in full force at the moment. They're not the most distinctive trees, and somewhat under threat. I noticed these in a car park a few days ago, then driving down Stanford Avenue, saw that the whole road was lined with them.
Not a smoker, but I grew some tobacco plants. Currently colour curing in the kitchen. Hoping they actually turn yellow to indicate chlorophyll degradation, then a nice shade of dark brown. At some point I believe I'll need to ferment them as well.
Slightly scary looking sunflower face, I tried to mimic those I saw in Spain, but it ended up looking more like Tim Burton than Walt Disney!
No idea how they got here but it looks like I've got some barley randomly growing in my garden! I'm kind of wondering whether to preserve the seeds and sow them in a small patch next year, then do the same till I get enough to malt for a batch of beer. Commercial yield is about 600g/m2, so I'd need 10m2 to even think about it. Anybody got a bit of allotment space free in a few years?!