My Fig Tree, A Week with our Grandson, Aston Pottery

My Fig Tree

I never thought I could become so enamored with a little tree.

We planted this tiny sapling tree about 15 years ago and then changed its position to a sunnier, less intrusive spot. Then we left it and we have never done anything to it. No watering, no pruning, no new soil. Nothing.

Today it is about 2,5m high and wide and every year, from around mid July through to mid August it produces an astonishing crop of sweet, juicy, dark purple figs. I collect about a kilo per day, less at the start and end of the season, far more at Peak Fig, as I call it. The fruit are quite remarkable.

They are plentiful, easy to pick (with the help of my little ladder for the top ones), almost all of them are perfect, and they seem to be of very little interest to the birds and the bees. The tree uses only two ingredients: sunshine and rain water. There are no preservatives or additives.

And what an extraordinary fruit: it has no stones or pips to be removed and you can eat the skin. Pick and Eat. And if you pick any that are not quite ripe enough, they will ripen by themselves in one or two days.  At Peak Fig, we have far more than we can eat so I make jam. The figs are so sweet that my jam consists of at least 75% fig and at most 25% sugar. This year I have made 20 pots of jam which means we can enjoy them all year and we have some nice organic presents to hand out.

My grandchildren help me to pick them as part of our morning routine. They love it. And then they eat some.

The tree that likes to give. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the fig tree symbolises peace, prosperity, and divine blessing.

A Week with our Grandson

We spent another week with our 6 year old grandson looking after him during the school holidays. It was great fun for the 3 of us. 

Monday was a bus ride (his favourite mode of transport) to the centre of Oxford and a Natural History Museum trail in the shopping centre.

Tuesday was picking black currents (1kg) and mirabelle plumbs (6 kg) in the field next door with our neighbours. Followed by jam making.

Wednesday was a visit to the Didcot Railway Centre to see and ride old restored steam trains.

Thursday was a visit to Millets Farm Maize Maze which included plenty of other activities. The highlight was the Farmula 1 racing in which I had to ride my grandson around a race track using pedal power alone. 

Friday was origami, magic and stories and then return home.

The highlight was probably our journey in the Pendennis Castle at Didcot travelling 3rd class on the way out and 1st class on the return!

Aston Pottery

You might think that the highlight of a visit to the pottery would be the pots. Not at Aston Pottery.

The annual flower display reaches its zenith in the summer months and greets you and makes you speechless as you pull into the car park.

Congratulations to Jane & Stephen Baughan on their extraordinary and spectacular achievement!!

Quote for the Month

I played 'Would you rather' with my grandson. One of his favourites is:

"Would you rather have an invisible dog or a magic remote that pauses your parents when they tell you it's bedtime?"