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| Winter wheat in foreground; note that spring wheat in background is ripening. |
The heat advisory expired on the 10th, but I wasn’t surprised that a new advisory was issued for the valley from noon today (July 12) through Sunday (the 14th) at 10:00 p.m.
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| From road across June's field |
Yesterday was cherry-picking day. We might have left them a day or two longer, but we’re going back to town, and we just had to pick them. Mike had stipulated that this should happen “first thing.” He wasn’t kidding. Once he was up and dressed, he was out at the tree picking away. I was First Assistant on ladder support duty. We picked 3+ gallons of cherries in varying stages of ripeness. I saved the best ones to eat and washed the rest to be pitted for the freezer.
Last
year, Hallie was here during cherry season, and she was less than impressed
with my vintage method of cherry pitting as taught me by my mother – a hairpin
in a cork (cheap and effective). Hallie assured me a contraption could be had
which would pit the cherries. We found several on Amazon, but we needed it
right then. Even a 2-day turn-around was too long. We had to finish the job
with the cork and hairpin, which didn’t bother me as much as it did Hallie. Our
fingers turned black with the cherry juice.
Well,
a week or two later, son Murray came with a gift for me – a 6-hole OXO cherry
pitter. It was too late for last year, but this year I eagerly took it from the
box and set it up. Even Mike was intrigued and voluntarily helped with the
pitting process.
Believe me, operating this contraption is not for the weak. It requires quite a bit of force, and some of the fruit is lost to the pit. I can see why my mother insisted on using the cork-and-hairpin. But Mike and I agreed that we put plenty of cherries in the freezer – 5 quarts. And besides, my fingers didn’t turn black.
Mike
left before 7:00 a.m. this morning for his bike ride. While he was gone, Bess
and I walked around the pond, and I saw the ducklings for the first time. Now there
are only two.
The high for the day was 93, both yesterday and today. It was cooler overnight and the morning low today (the 12th) was 64. KW
Technology isn't always better. The old ways were harder, but sometimes more effective. We are supposed to be over 100 today, with a slight cooldown next week. Have fun with your ducklings.
ReplyDeleteInteresting contraption. It's easy to get carried away with picking and then you get home with the haul and have to deal with it. Like the 15 pounds of strawberries we picked this year. I was tired of making jam, but let me tell you, we've already gone through three jars! haha
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's hard to tell how much fruit we can realistically use. I found a recipe for elderberry jelly that actually specifies how many cups of berries and how many cups of water to make the juice. So many recipes don't say.
ReplyDeleteHallie, do you remember making strawberry jam in the kitchen on Broadview. You patiently mashed and mashed the berries. You can also make freezer jam, and the process is simpler. It doesn't last as long, but sometimes it doesn't need to.