Growing up on a farm in Kent – the garden of England – I learnt how to test when fruit was ripe for picking.
It’s all to do with touch.
Whether apple, pear, plum or strawberry, the fruit might look ripe, but if it resisted a gentle twist, it was too soon. And the fruit would be sour.
This is an art form, yet it also plays out in our lives.
We need to judge the right time for harvest, not just by looks but a much broader sense of readiness.
Of course, we can also leave it too late, and the fruit becomes mush.