Locally Grown Produce.

Although Andy and I live in a unit with a very small, not-so-sunny back paved-area/patio, we always try to grow things. One of the first things we planted after I moved back to Townsville in 2006 was a pineapple. We simply chopped the top off of one we got from the market and stuck it into the ground. Somehow it managed to survive several transplantings and a few moves, and earlier this year you may remember my excited post about the mini-pineapple growing from the centre of the spiky plant.

We watched it grow, with absolutely no idea how to tell when a pineapple is ready to be picked.

Turns out we didn’t have to worry about it. In one of the almost nightly rainstorms we’ve had since the end of November, the weight of water and pineapple got to be too much for the stalk to bear and the little pineapple tipped over. Andy tried tying it up, but on closer inspection it looked like ants were getting into the base of the fruit, so he chopped it from the plant and brought it inside.

It was pretty green, and for some weird reason Nacho liked chewing on the spiky top.

But, thanks to 34 degree weather and 90% humidity, it didn’t take long for the pineapple to ripen on our benchtop. We peeled it, removed the bad spot where the ants were more ambitious than us, and were left with a small but good-looking pineapple.

Look how small it is compared to this mango. Sure, it’s the biggest Bowen Mango I’ve ever seen, but still. It was a small pineapple. The perfect snack size.

We cut it up and ate it all in one go.

I’ve found that a lot of pineapples are good, but not great. They are either too sweet, or too tart. This one was the perfect combination of sweet and sour, tangy but not too harsh. I may be biased, because it’s come from my backyard, but I think it was the best pineapple ever.

Pineapple isn’t the only thing we’ve gotten from our sad-looking garden. The herbs are still going fine, as always, and we’ve even gotten some small but good Hungarian Wax Peppers (not spicy).

Our eggplant, however, bears many pretty flowers but refuses to set any fruits.

Everything else is sort of struggling along, except for the catnip plant, which Nacho loves.