Opinion : The Autumn harvest approaches

Some of leaves on the trees have started turning and in the early morning there is a heavy dew on the ground.

Without a doubt summer is but a fading memory and there’s definitely a hint of Autumn in the air.

The evenings are drawing in too however a few days ago there was enough time after arriving home from work to take a leisurely stroll around the grounds of my ancestral home to enjoy what remains of the summer bedding plants.

In my orchard the apple trees are heavy with fruit indeed 2015 was a bumper year for most fruit and vegetables.

This weekend your humble servant will find time to harvest the fruit and vegetables and place as many as is possible into storage for the winter. For those on low incomes harvesting as much home grown fruit as possible is essential if one is to make ends meet.

What really annoys me are all the residents who let the fruit on their trees go to waste.

How many hungry people could be fed if all the fruit was harvested and given to those in need?

It’s ridiculous that food banks are busy distributing food to the needs yet tonnes of perfectly edible fruit is just left to rot on trees in the back gardens of houses.

With so many houses of multiple occupancy in Wycombe these days the owners of the houses are more interested in the profits from letting rooms than ensuring the produce from the gardens of the properties is not wasted.

I’ve said this many times before and I will say it again now, if the owners of houses with fruit trees in the back garden do not want the fruit then why not let the poor, hungry and down on their luck have the fruit rather than letting in waste?

Sadly our society is one based on greed, profit and property. The caring, sharing society that once existed years ago has gone and people would rather let fruit rot on the tree than harvest it for someone else.

I often wonder why more people don’t plant apple, pear and other trees so they can get free food too. After all fruit tree is so easy to look after and gives big rewards.

Soon one of the many bedrooms at my ancestral home will be filled with fruit and the lovely smell of apples will fill the air in the south wing. I can relax knowing that if food gets scarce this winter I shall not go hungry.

What do you think?

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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