Next Harvest

In Edward Lear’s The Owl and The Pussy-Cat, we read in the third verse:

Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
   Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
   By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
   Which they ate with a runcible*¹ spoon;  
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
   They danced by the light of the moon,

runcible*1 = today we would probably call it a SPORK, a spoon with three prongs of a fork.

What a scientist would call Cydonia oblonga, and what we generally call “Quince” are starting to loose their pubescence (soft fine hairs) and develop into ripe quinces, ready for the harvest at Chartwell. They are starting to look (almost) quite ready for the pot, but we will be patient with them for a week or two. I understand that quinces require a lot of patience, in ripening and cooking.

Quince has a relatively limited appeal and use – there is a single quince tree and it seems to have at least 30 fruit, at a rough head count.