I made this sign for the allotment. Steph suggested I put the address of the blog on it, and at first I thought that would just be geeky and sad. But then someone left a message on our allotment asking for my email address (they also left some seeds - allotment people are the best!) which made me think it wouldn't be a bad idea after all. I'm also tickled by the juxtaposition of old and new.I picked a stone of cherries (14lbs or 6.5kg) off the tree in the front garden today, so this evening Ed and I will be de-stoning them and turning them into jam, pies, and ice-cream. I just looked up the price of cherries in Tesco and that's £44 worth of cherries. And by the time they're jam, pies etc. they'll be worth even more. I feel pretty good about that.
5 comments:
Now ya got me jealous. Cherries are among my favorite fruit, and we still haven't planted a tree. Mary bought three plum trees, but we are missing my favorites -- cherries and peaches. Maybe we can plant some this fall.
Mary is in favor of going to the local orchards and buying the stuff. If we have the cash, we'll go pick some cherries in Traverse City this coming Thursday, then we'll go to Acme Township Park and swim in the bay (Traverse Bay -- NW corner of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, USA).
Last year, I made some cherry almond jelly. It was eaten up all too quickly. It's easy to prepare, so I want to make a bunch this year.
Start by cooking the cherries (pit and all) until they are mush. Then, run them through a collender (screen). This lets all the pulp through, but keeps the pits out.
Once you have the juicy mush, use a standard cherry jelly recipe. As soon as you turn off the heat, add a bunch of almond extract and finish processing as normal.
Enjoy your cherries! I'm sure that preparing them is a whole lot more fun than turning live chickens into meat. (Eight more big ones to go, and eight little ones that need another month or two of growing).
I forgot to mention that I like your sign. I was thinking of putting one up that says Space Station Double-Wide, but nobody would see it. We have about a tenth of a mile of driveway, and most of it is on the neighbor's property (really fun in the winter, believe me). You can't even see the house from our little seldom-traveled dead-end dirt road.
Cherries? Just one on the tree I planted this year. And only one gooseberry too. But watering in my tiny courtyard last night I saw a big fat straw coloured cricket, a big fat moth of some kinds, an itsy bitsy slug that looked to little to murder, and two spiders all in my tiny back yard. I'm glad that wildlife, even if they are mini beasts, are finding a home there. I couldn't believe the cricket.
Preparing cherries got pretty dull, although Sam helped me in the afternoon, and in the evening Ed and I sat at the kitchen table pitting cherries side-by-side when the kids were in bed. I think you're right though, nerd. Pitting cherries side by side is kind of romantic, but preparing chickens can't really be romantic however you do it.
Steph - they're never too small to murder, they're all evil. The cricket is great though.
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