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.
