Monday, July 21, 2014

This Evening's Harvest

We were home from work on time (traffic was acceptable) and even though we've got a heat index at or near 100 this evening, the overcast conditions made me decide to get a lawn mowing in.  Out to the cherry trees to unplug the extension cord that's powering the electric fencer and I noticed that there were an abundance of deep red fruit on the tree. 

Since this might be the evening when the 'coon's declare war on the trees, fencer or no, I decided to postpone lawn care and do some harvesting instead.  Of course, once I started, the sun popped out and we once again were hot and tropical.  Even though I carried the step ladder out, I told myself that tonight at least, I'd harvest only what I could reach from the ground.

There is some focal point distortion here but for reference, that's our 12 cup coffee maker in the background.  These from 2 trees, as high as I could reach (with juice running down my arm) and that's after the deer have been reaching for any of the not-so-low hangers. Using the ladder will bring multiples of this batch.


We told ourselves last year that we need a pitter.  We still do.

15 comments:

  1. Well, Lauren and I did the pitting and filled a 4.5 liter (10 cups) Pyrex bowl. Just in time too......that dark fruited pie barely managed to stick around until this evening with 3 very small (between friends) slices left, those finished off with a small exploratory batch of our first home made ice cream.

    We seem to be living in a land of delights lately and just when I've been trying so hard to be good too.......

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  2. Coop - my mouth is watering for fresh cherries. What a treat you have!

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    1. They look so pretty and will BE pretty in an upcoming pastry shell.

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  3. Coop:

    Hmmmm, Home-made ice cream. Have never had any. Can't wait to taste some, one day . . .

    That's a lot of cherries. One for you, one for me as you were picking. Right ? Still drooling over that delicious looking pie

    bob: Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. There's some new looking contraption on the kitchen mixer and it was running last night, round and round, turning cream into ice. Peg gave me a sample spoonful this morning.

      It was good.

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  4. I think my first comment got swallowed by Blogger.

    I was thinking that the cherries sold around here all seem to be a much deeper red color than what you have. Ten pints of pitted cherries is a pretty nice for one evening and one tree.

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    1. Richard, you are right. The cherries we buy are the domesticated, sweet Bing's. Our cherries are smaller and wild(er), considered pie cherries IIRC. They taste like cherry but need sugar. I tested a couple of them from the tree, tart and juicy.

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  5. I fed the kitties this morning before we jumped into the car for our morning commute. There was a fairly good sized bandit, ring-tailed creature heading up to the cat food bowls. It was still dark so I didn't go down and inspect my electric fence. Our cherries that remained on the tree may be gone.....:(

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  6. Yumm. I love cherry season. Luckily there is an abundance of them in the PNW.

    I read recently about a homemade cherry pitter. Press a bobby pin into a wine cork so the loop end sticks out. Supposed to work better than traditional even though you have to pit each one by hand.

    Or you could go wild and make one from a fork: http://www.how-the-hell.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-cherry-pitter/

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    1. Trobairitz - how would a young person like yourself know about bobby pins. I haven't heard that term for eons. You probably meant safety pins.

      bob: riding the wet coast

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    2. Lauren tried using a paper clip last night as her mom has before. I find it simpler just to get on axis with the fruit and squeeze.

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    3. I've used the chopstick and a bottle before. It goes pretty quickly and all of the pits and stems end up in the bottle. But that fork looks pretty promising.

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  7. You'll get by without a pitter, but I hope to see the photo of your new pitter next season.

    Wow. Warm.

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    1. Keith,
      I think I know where to find an extra fork.....and there are a LOT more cherries in the tree. I checked the trees and the electric fence last night; our perimeter has not been breached.

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