Home-grown oats! . Back in spring, when Silvia at @lebarbarighe sent me some of her naked oats (so I could sprout them for ale), I had the crazy idea of planting some. . Crazy because I have no garden; no soil…just a collection of pots squeezed together on a patio. Crazy because I no *nothing* about growing grain. Crazy because I knew I would be away for 5 weeks with no-one to care for them. . But I couldn’t help myself! . And look at these! They are one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen for ages. I literally can’t stop looking at them and smiling. The experience has given me just a tiny, tiny taste of how my ancestors, who subsisted on oats, whose calendar was built around them – who literally grew up with all their smells, tastes routines and rituals – must have felt. . I feel joyful and amazed and humbled and connected. ‘Just’ by a grass. . Next task (if I can bring myself to do it) is to thresh them and get the grain out.