The plum table - famous on Twitter!
Much as I love the digital darkroom aspect of being a twenty-first century photographer, it can become a slog to be staring at a monitor for a long stretch.
So to have found a temporary respite from working on images at my Mac is great fun. Now, every day, in all weathers, I have to take time off to pick fruit to set out on our road-side fruit table. This year has been a short season for our yellow plums, which ripen first. I so look forward to my first plum of the season because they are truly ambrosial. A perfect example is just about the most wonderful piece of fruit I have ever eaten. When the tree branches begin to hang low, laden with plums in mid-August, I am actually excited. The weight of the fruit gives rise to the charming and apt local name for this variety of plums: ‘Oxfordshire Droopers’. At some point each day, I test the yellowest fruit, until the day comes when a plum comes away easily in my hand. Warm from the sun, it will be heavenly. It also signals a couple of weeks of constant activity, as all the trees need to be picked of fruit together, before the plums drop and spoil.
This year has also seen a lot of fruit spoilt by wasps, now hungry for sugar for their grubs. It pays to pick carefully and eat cautiously while picking.
Over before you have had enough, the yellow plums are followed by the cooking fruit: delicious dark, purple plums,damsons and apples, all to be set out on the plumtable. The damsons take an age to pick but prove really popular with many experienced local cooks. I also seek out my favourite blackberry patches but never have quite enough to share.
All this happens near Charlbury on the B4026. Look out for the plumtable. It should be there until the apples are finished next month.
Great picture! They actually look very yummy! I came across your site by accident.. but enjoyed it very much!! Thanks for letting me visit.. I will be back!