plums!
A bit earlier this week I went up to visit my sister, who has a friend with several plum trees. As anyone who has had a plum tree knows, they're rather like zucchini. One tree makes more than you can use. Four trees is madness. So she was more than happy to have people come up to help remove some of the plums before they fell and rotted.
While thus picking plums, I made an amazing discovery:
Two adults working with one ladder and the aid of six small children, can, in the course of almost two hours, pick the same number of plums that one adult, working unassisted from a ladder, could harvest in 20 minutes.
On the other hand, they were all good kids, and surprisingly calm and accepting of the idea of taking turns being the one on the top of the ladder (even the 2.5-year-olds). Which didn't stop them from occasionally trying to climb the other side of the ladder, or me, but it was more from an excess of energy than a desperate need to be the one on top. (And, in case you've been keeping track at home and are trying to figure out how there were two adults and six kids involved: my sis has 2 and was baby sitting 1. Friend owning plums had 1 child and 2 nieces visiting, and was herself not feeling up to helping us pick.)
Saturday, if all goes as planned, the plums become jam, plum sauce, and oil substitute for baking (plum puree).
The next post may well be plum-related anguish similar to that experienced last Labor day after the Pear Canning Marathon of Doom, 2006. There might even be pictures.
While thus picking plums, I made an amazing discovery:
Two adults working with one ladder and the aid of six small children, can, in the course of almost two hours, pick the same number of plums that one adult, working unassisted from a ladder, could harvest in 20 minutes.
On the other hand, they were all good kids, and surprisingly calm and accepting of the idea of taking turns being the one on the top of the ladder (even the 2.5-year-olds). Which didn't stop them from occasionally trying to climb the other side of the ladder, or me, but it was more from an excess of energy than a desperate need to be the one on top. (And, in case you've been keeping track at home and are trying to figure out how there were two adults and six kids involved: my sis has 2 and was baby sitting 1. Friend owning plums had 1 child and 2 nieces visiting, and was herself not feeling up to helping us pick.)
Saturday, if all goes as planned, the plums become jam, plum sauce, and oil substitute for baking (plum puree).
The next post may well be plum-related anguish similar to that experienced last Labor day after the Pear Canning Marathon of Doom, 2006. There might even be pictures.