After nearly a year, I finally decided to wander through the various gardens of John's accommodations on Madingley Road. Indeed, they are huge, luscious, worthy of envy, and probably part of the reason for the outrageous accommodation charges. I thought my house garden was big, but some of the ones across the road are even bigger!I also did some harvesting. :-? From chatting with my bedder, I discovered that the houses around here seem to have either the green cooking apples or the ones that look like bramley/cox (greenish yellow and red). I knew the cooking apples were fairly tart, so I wanted to pick some of the bramley/cox ones. Unfortunately, the easier ones had already been picked, so I was left with climbing the tree if I really wanted some. A ladder would have been ideal; but that I did not have. Hence, I climbed my first apple tree today.
It was definitely fun, a little scary, challenging, and even thought-provoking. Now I understand why climbing was the easier part and descending the hard part. Minutes passed where I debated whether to continue--first, plotting a way up, and then, assessing if and how I would come down. It was rough, but I enjoyed it. And I got 10 apples out of it! Not a lot but the exact amount I had asked for.
Meanwhile, I picked a big handful of ripe blackberries. Got pricked by some of them, but the spikes won't stop me from returning for more later! Praise the Lord for blessing a "cityslicker" with such farm-like opportunities!
