365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Success Comes In Small Bites
Day 357: Success does not necessarily come to us in large measure. Sometimes it comes in small bites: tasty, but by no means a full plate. It has been several years since I planted two hardy kiwi "Issai" vines, purportedly one of the few self-fertile varieties on the market. I had great hopes for a crop last year, but what fruit had set fell to the ground when daytime temperatures went over 100 for several days in a row. The garden shed most of its berries then. The gooseberries and currants, only a day or two from full ripeness, fell to the ground in a juicy "rainstorm." I was able to salvage most of them for jam, but the kiwis were months away from maturity. But such is horticulture, and this year, I again had high hopes when the blooming season and the pollinators coincided. There were fewer flowers, quite possibly due to a cold snap and late-spring snowfall, but a few within the vine-protected interior of the arch trellis formed fruit. At one point, I think I counted 11 berries, several of which disappeared without a trace. Three weeks ago, one of those remaining felt slightly squishy when I pinched it gently. I picked it, popped it in my mouth, and was rewarded with a burst of kiwi flavour as potent as any encountered in a full-sized fruit. Yesterday, two more signalled their readiness to be eaten, and this time, I remembered to take a picture to document the story of this small but nevertheless enormous horticultural achievement.
Labels:
Hardy Kiwi "Issai",
kiwi berries
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment