During lockdown, I have had many walks around the local field. For weeks it was bare earth, then one day I was excited to see little tufts of green were beginning to emerge. Gradually the brown earth disappeared completely beneath a full covering of green. Over the last few weeks the crop has grown quickly and luxuriously, and now it can be seen as barley, complete with ear and the tall ‘beard’, growing close to the ear, which distinguishes it from wheat. (But I stand to be corrected if I’ve got this wrong!)
Barley matures before wheat. It has apparently been cultivated for 10,000 years. I love the plait-like ear and the strangely crinkly part of the otherwise very straight beard, on this specimen at least!
