Cherries!

I have been anticipating the arrival of our cherries this year for awhile now. I had big plans for cherry preserves, cherry pie, eating fresh picked cherries.... A couple weeks ago, the cherries started ripening and I knew the time to pick would be coming soon! Occasionally, I'd go into the yard and sample a couple that were ready. Earlier this week, however, I started noticing a few of the cherries looked moldy.

Hmm, strange.

Sadly, this mold stuff started to spread to a majority of the cherries. We are guessing that it is Blue Mold Rot:

• Blue Mold Rot – Most critical disease affecting cherries. It is caused by various molds and begins as a small, round brown spot on the fruit. The pulp underneath this brown spot is moist and a light brownish color. As blue rot mold progresses in cherries, it turns white and forms a bluish-green residue on the outside ultimately rotting the entire fruit.

Today, Todd and Tobey came over to help us pick through all the moldy cherries to get a few good ones. We got 6 quarts total. Not too bad, but when I consider last year's bounty (see last year's post here) it makes me sad.

A Few Good Cherries

With 3 quarts of cherries each, I'm hoping to at least make a small batch of preserves and Tobey was talking about making a couple pies.

Madi was sad too because she enjoyed eating the cherries as they fell from the trees.
Hopefully next year we won't have this problem. Until then, I will be trying to figure out what causes this Blue Mold Rot.

Carrie and Cherries...

Carrie took the plunge into canning this past week. We picked a bunch of cherries from the trees in our backyard. There was no way we were going to be able to consume what we picked by simply eating handfuls. So, Carrie decided to make some cherry preserves. The recipe called for 3 pounds of pitted cherries... we had about 10 times that amount! Want to buy some? It is awesome to pick a fruit or vegetable and be able to sustain ones self for a period of time with something God prepared. Watching all the birds that are eating these cherries makes me think of the verse in the bible, "Look at the birds. They don't plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them..." Matthew 6:26. It is easy to take comfort from this thinking how much more I mean to God than a bird does. I look back time and time again and I can see that I was being led by God. Anyways, here are some photos of Carrie making it happen with cherries. FYI... there was no rudeness with food, especially with any other dudes.










Thanks for looking.

Cherries!!!

So the cherries are ripe! It is amazing how in a matter of a couple of days they went from almost ripe to great! We picked a lot of cherries. I would guess that it was in the neighborhood of about 30 pounds. I never expected it to be that much but Carrie and I weighted what we have and it is around 18 pounds... and our small group from church took home a bunch. Carrie and I are going to try our hand at canning some, making preserves, and a cobbler or two or twenty! The idea of having a tree in my yard that produces something that I can eat and enjoy is really awesome. It is just one of the ways God provides for me.


Our friends from church. Tim, Colleen, Deb, Carrie, and I. Jordan is behind the lense and Joe & Jessica were unable to make it. I think they hate cherries and anything to do with them for that matter. In fact, I think they hate people that like cherries. I haven't spoke to them since I told them we were picking cherries.


Working hard to get those cherries. Carrie is my cherry pie!


Carrie doing what she does best... hanging around with a weird look on her face.


Even my watch likes cherries. You may or may not know but I really enjoy mechanical watches. Their craftsmanship is outstanding and they love cherries. So I took a photo of my watch with my cherries.