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Ms.'v got it into her head this weekend to U-pick some cherries. The closest place we could find was more than an hour away but we had nothing else on the books, I was thankfully not as hungover as I should have been, and with Sprout away at Girl Scout Camp for two days the mobilization logistics were a lot easier.
The weekend before we had picked strawberries, and as I usually do I got a bit greedy..."Grab every basket in the house, and those pails too...aw fuck it, we'll just fill up the TRUNK and have them weigh the car before and after." Then we got out there and I realized, AGAIN, that I hate to squat on my haunches [note to self, next year bring knee pads] and trying to bend my rickety six foot self down over the strawberry plants was NOT a wise strategy. Complicating matters was that the portion of the patch we picked had this heirloom variety which was incredibly flavourful, I mean, the most flavourful berries I ever remember eating, but they were very very small and very very fragile. So, picking was a hassle in terms of net volume and they practically turned to paste in the totes. A bit later on we figured out there were some hardier varieties in other rows, so that filled the baskets more quickly, but we only got 5 3-quart baskets and it seemed to take FOREVER.
[back to the topic of cherries] as a result of this, we said, Let's be realistic this time, and only brought the same 5 baskets with us to the cherry orchard. Get there to discover that they've only been open for picking for a day, and the trees are PREGNANT, BURSTING with ripe fruit. You could basically set a basket at the base of a tree and tell a racy joke, and the basket would fill up. We had everything we brought full up in less than an hour, working mostly at normal hand level, and looked around to say "now what?" The orchard was more than happy to loan us pails and bags...and when the smoke cleared we had picked about 40 pounds worth, off the stems.
Overjoyed with our bounteous haul, we got them home, put them on the kitchen table, and with dawning horror realized we were going to now have to DEAL with them, and QUICK.
Last night I put on an audiobook on and pitted the first 7 of our total ~36 quarts for freezing. An hour and a half later, I was covered in enough gore to qualify as a walk on extra in a slasher flick and both my wrists were completely enflamed, and hands stained purple to the elbows. I'm a little bit afraid these things will rot away before we can deal with them...
Oh, and our freezer is already full...
The weekend before we had picked strawberries, and as I usually do I got a bit greedy..."Grab every basket in the house, and those pails too...aw fuck it, we'll just fill up the TRUNK and have them weigh the car before and after." Then we got out there and I realized, AGAIN, that I hate to squat on my haunches [note to self, next year bring knee pads] and trying to bend my rickety six foot self down over the strawberry plants was NOT a wise strategy. Complicating matters was that the portion of the patch we picked had this heirloom variety which was incredibly flavourful, I mean, the most flavourful berries I ever remember eating, but they were very very small and very very fragile. So, picking was a hassle in terms of net volume and they practically turned to paste in the totes. A bit later on we figured out there were some hardier varieties in other rows, so that filled the baskets more quickly, but we only got 5 3-quart baskets and it seemed to take FOREVER.
[back to the topic of cherries] as a result of this, we said, Let's be realistic this time, and only brought the same 5 baskets with us to the cherry orchard. Get there to discover that they've only been open for picking for a day, and the trees are PREGNANT, BURSTING with ripe fruit. You could basically set a basket at the base of a tree and tell a racy joke, and the basket would fill up. We had everything we brought full up in less than an hour, working mostly at normal hand level, and looked around to say "now what?" The orchard was more than happy to loan us pails and bags...and when the smoke cleared we had picked about 40 pounds worth, off the stems.
Overjoyed with our bounteous haul, we got them home, put them on the kitchen table, and with dawning horror realized we were going to now have to DEAL with them, and QUICK.
Last night I put on an audiobook on and pitted the first 7 of our total ~36 quarts for freezing. An hour and a half later, I was covered in enough gore to qualify as a walk on extra in a slasher flick and both my wrists were completely enflamed, and hands stained purple to the elbows. I'm a little bit afraid these things will rot away before we can deal with them...
Oh, and our freezer is already full...
