Humble harvest

Last year we purchased a few soft fruit trees to place against a rather barren fence. If we had had a reasonably warm Summer then we may well have picked a punnet or two of the first full year's estimated produce. 'Best laid plans and all that' the weather took a turn for the worse and was not what my baby trees yearned for. On top of this was the utter shortage of flying insects during the blossom season and so all in all, I count myself fortunate in picking anything at all.

Behold ... my one Victoria plum which I cut in half and shared with my husband - it may have only been one but it was the sweetest, succulent, juicy plum that I have ever eaten. Then, on one bough of my beautiful Damson tree was the final sum total of the plums of 2008! I shared these also and ate them raw, to my surprise they were very tasty and not as raspingly tart as I had expected them to be.

At one time Damsons used to be plentiful in the shops and were widely boiled up and served with sweet custard. Sadly, since the turn of the Century (I never thought that I would use that expression - turn of the Century) they have diminished from the stores and we now have the choice of collecting wild ones or planting our own trees. This is a sad state of affairs for people who enjoy making damson wine - rich, red and strong and for those who like to make damson jam or compote.