Mangled Cherries

There is not a large amount of time from the time cherries ripen to when they need to be picked.  The race between getting them picked before the birds eat them creates an even smaller window of opportunity.  I don’t like being in the yard when the sun is blazing nor do I have the confidence in myself to climb the hill.  But I have made a conscious effort to do my part this year.

Wednesday was my last day for subbing. Before I left the house, I took a bucket to the top of the hill to pick some cherries.  When the bucket was a third to half full, I made my way back down the hill and left the cherries on the kitchen table. 

          Yesterday I retrieved the cherry pitter from its storage spot and punched cherries for about an hour or so.  Perhaps the cherries weren’t ready after all as many of the pits remained attached to the cherries.  I would have preferred an assembly line but as Jenna was at school and Roland was at work, it was just me removing stems and pits.  I washed  (rinsed) before sending them through the pitter.  I checked pitted cherries to weed out more pits.  Rinsed pitted cherries.  Checked for more pits.  Measured 24 cups and filled three one-gallon bags. 

          Roland took out our last two bags of frozen cherries and combined with two cups of fresh cherries and made a cherry pie.  This morning Jenna helped me to pick some more cherries before I took her to school.  It’s her last day.  We picked until the sun made its way toward the top of the sky.  Perhaps I’ll pick some more tomorrow morning.