Spectacular trunk and flowering plant there, James.
Jen, regarding the use of aloe vera gel... I always cut a fresh piece as needed (we have lots of plants here and there is no way to run out of leaves). They seem to discolor and age kind of fast once they are cut. My suggestion would be to allow the plant to "store" the gel and harvest it when you need to use it. Be aware that many plants sold as aloe vera are misidentified, so you may want to confirm the name of your plant before use.
