Sunday, July 10, 2011

Cherrypicking

Our cherry trees have done very well and we decided last week it was finally time to start picking. I picked a basketfull one day (as much as a pound, I'd say), pitted them, and froze them on a tray.

A day or two later, Jeremy went out with ladders and boxes. He doesn't mess around! I picked the cherries off the little tree while he got the big tree.



This is a little over 15 pounds of cherries! I was worried we'd have less cherries this year after having to cut down the other half of the tree. But we got 18-20 pounds last year so we're practically there now. And there are still more cherries to pick.

Jeremy and his intern spent hours pitting them, which meant cherry mess all over the floor,



all over the table (and everything on it),


and all over the walls and window!


I don't think any of this batch got frozen. Jeremy has been drying them in the dehydrator, so we'll have plenty till next year for cereals, scones, and other baking projects.

5 comments:

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Yep, looks like a mans handywork. What do you do to keep the birds away?

Aimee said...

hee hee - I'll have to tell Jeremy that. =) Amazingly though - he cleaned it all up!

I haven't jinxed myself yet by saying this, but: we don't do anything to keep the birds away! For some reason they don't bother with these trees. In fact, when we first saw this house it was September and the trees were full of cherries - and way overripe I'd guess. That's about 2 or 3 months past when they should have been picked!

They don't go after the raspberries either. I guess we're just really, really lucky!

Jessica (your sister) said...

Over a month since a post. What has been going on?

JULIE said...

So jealous you have a cherry tree. Fruit trees are the next level for us, we have none yet. What kind did you get? Would you suggest planting one?

Aimee said...

Jessica - I've been sewing. =)

Julie- we didn't plant these trees, they came with the house. It's a really hardy one though and very, very tart. The cherries are dark, dark red. The original tree blew down in a storm many years ago(according to neighborhood legend) and the three trunks we had when we moved in were suckers that had been growing for a long time. We've since had to cut down two of those three. We cut down all the suckers but one healthy one this year and I hope it takes over well. The second tree appears to have sprouted on it's own.
Anyway, I'd certainly recommend planting cherry trees. It doesn't take too long before they start producing.