We picked the first pears of the season, on our farm today.  I have been selling three varieties of apples, the first of the season, from our orchards this past three weeks: discovery apple –always the first, collina, and everyone favourite cooker bramley. The bramley apples are from some of the original orchards first planted thirty years ago here, by the farmer and his wife – still bearing fruit — a bumper harvest in fact.

Normally i would look forward to selling these new additions, on my stall at the market. As the season progresses into late summer and autumn, we would – each week have new varieties of apples and pears. Over the course of the apple season, we have something like thirty varieties, some come in – last a few weeks, as we have small plantings of some, and are replaced by another, which might only last as long, never to be seen again till late summer/autumn next year.

This year at Parson’s Green , i sold lots of soft fruit: strawberries, and raspberries – which last for months and months, and black, red,  and white currants, and blackberries, then cherries (a bumper harvest this year) then plums (still picking ) –  but no apples and pears (or damsens or medlars, or cobnuts, or squashes, and pumpkins, and leaks and kale … ) .

I hope i will be back at parson’s Green,  in the Spring, selling the remaining leeks and kale, which would have withstood the cold of the winter months, and the first plantings of salads;  and also the apple and fruit juices, we will have made from this summer/autumn’s – hopefully continued bumper harvest.