Friday, July 3, 2009

Field Trip - Cherry Picking

It's time for another field trip. Once again we're going to stick close to home, just to prove that we can have some fun just around the corner.

Neighbor Joe extended an invitation for us to come down and pick some cherries. They're ripe and the tree is laden with fruit.

We're going down the road. Their place is just around the bend of evergreens.



Joe was inside the house doing some painting but was nice enough to bring a ladder outside and place it next to the tree. There were many diversions on the way to the back of the property.



They have a gorgeous garden but we'll tour that another day. I was trying hard not to fall down the rabbit hole of poppies. The cherries are getting riper by the minute and we must move along.

Joe's wife Susan gives me a tour of their small orchard. They have plum, apple, peach and cherry trees.



It's so beautiful to see the bright red popping out of the greenery.



This tree was loaded with fruit.



Cherries make me happy.

I brought a large plastic bowl to hold the fruit while I picked, transferring it to a large bag as I worked. Susan and I picked and talked and picked and talked. It was such a beautiful cool day, just perfect for cherry picking. Here's a tip to determine if the fruit is ripe for picking; if you give it a tug and it releases, it's ready. You shouldn't have to pull.

I kept dumping fruit into the bag and Susan finally said, "Are you sure you want to keep picking?" It was only then that I realized I had lots and lots of cherries and they all needed to be pitted!



After thanking Susan, I walked through their garden one more time before heading home. They were kind enough to lend me their cherry pitter. There was work to be done.

First I retrieved my favorite strainer from the cabinet. It's see it's better day, has a few chips, but I love it. The color scheme is perfect for this task, don't you think?



I had to rinse the cherries in batches. Yeah, that many.



Now it's time to start pitting. This is the gadget. The white sleeve is removed before you start working.



The cherry is placed in the pitter with the point that was attached to the stem pointing up. You push the handle down and it pushes the pit out the bottom side, leaving the cherry whole and intact.



DId I mention there were a lot of cherries to pit? This is halfway through the batch.



The house was quiet and I worked steadily. It was a pleasant task. Pits piled up and before long I was finished. Tomorrow I'll bake something wonderful.

I'm going to have a Cherry Picking Field Trip Giveaway! Everyone knows that my standard of measure/scale is a martini glass. To give you idea of the size of the bowl full of cherries, here it is compared to the martini glass.



Your task is to guess how many cherries I pitted. YES...... I kept track as I was working!

Here's a close-up of the bowl of pits. Start counting.



You have until Sunday evening (July 5th) at 6 p.m. to leave a comment with your guess. I'll be announcing the winner at our Monday Morning Staff Meeting.

What am I giving away? One of my Cherry Jam wallets, of course.



Good luck everyone. I hope you enjoyed our cherry picking field trip.



53 comments:

Laura said...

Oh.. i love cherries! I keep thinking I'll plant a cherry tree in my yard when I get it all sorted out. Of course, I'll want an apple and a peach tree too. Hmmm... maybe too many trees. Anyway, sounds like you had a great time.
my guess would be 87 cherries.
happy fourth!
blessings
~*~

Anonymous said...

hehe..love your aprons, would love that little wallet! I say 300 cherries..yummy! :)
vanessa

Heidi said...

my guess.... as many as are in the bowl... that cant be wrong!!! You can just ignore me if you want to...I totally understand! LOL

Becky said...

I'm guessing 436 cherries. can't wait to see what you make with them.

Anonymous said...

Gonna guess 360 cherries. Hope hope hope I am theee winna!!

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Kitty said...

Hmmm...I just pitted cherries about a month ago. I'd say 511. What a nice friend to let you come and pick. We're off this morning to pick wild blackberries. Actually my husband will do the picking--I'll do the rest.

Annette said...

332 cherries. Making jam or pie?

Bella Della said...

375

Hope you have a great holiday weekend!

Jody Blue said...

507
An old neighbor of ours once shared her cherries with me, we used an old hairpin to pit the cherries(I still have one she gave me, just in case I find a cherry tree). I would love to try your contraption.

Lisa said...

I've just tried fresh cherries for the first time in my life. Is that hard to believe? I love them and they are not at all what I expected!

I would have to guess 250? You definitely picked/pitted alot of cherries. The de-pitter is interesting....makes the job easier I'm sure!

Anonymous said...

I would say 1422 Cherries

Vee said...

672 cherries! I know because I counted every single one. :D

They do look beautiful. This is a chore that I've never had the pleasure of doing. No cherry picking; no cherry pitting; nothing.

Can't wait to see what you make or bake.

Becky K. said...

I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 525 cherries.

There are a lot of pits there.

Great photos from your day.

Becky K.
Hospitality Lane

dina said...

I'm gonna guess 307. I couldn't be a nice round number, you know! :)

I *am* coveting your supply of fresh cherries... I've been having dreams of trying out some old timey cherry recipies... cherry preserves... cherry syrup... gosh, so many options!

I've got the "big" cherry pitter - it has a hopper and everything. If you were closer I woulda brought it by! :)

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

I guess 428 - that was a lovely field trip by the way. We have a little different cherry pitter - it works about the same way though - quite handy.

chocolatechic said...

I pitted cherries once...with a straw.

not fun!


I'm guessing 321.

OneOldGoat said...

I'll bet 363 cherries.

Cindy said...

Mmm, those red beauties look delicious! I'm guessing you pitted 387 cherries. By the way, l-o-v-e the wallet!

Marfa (formula for a life) said...

I'm gonna guess...352 cherries. Boy oh boy, I love cherries! They look so pretty AND taste so yummy!

jmmyndlnd said...

I just love cherries, live here in arizona we have to buy them we can't pick them, would love to pick them and eat as I picked, well my guess is 750, hope I win! Linda B.

Michelle said...

Love the pictures. As for the pits....hmmmmmmm...I am guessing 137 pits. Have a happy 4th.

Mogsie said...

447 ~ our cherries in full swing too ~ and my other mother has a bing tree in her backyard! :)

cotedetexas said...

What a fabulous story! I have never seen a cherry tree before with fruit on it. I"m deprived I know. Cherry Pie! how wonderful. You don't have to pit them if you just eat them that fresh, right? I"m an idiot.

martina said...

325

mgster said...

Wow! That's a lot of picking and a lot of pitting! But I love cherries and even have a special "Life Is A Bowl of Cherries" bowl to put them in. I think you pitted 468 cherries. Yup, that's MY guess!
cmflan122@gmail.com

lisa said...

477.

That's my guess and I'm sticking with it!

:o)

Mary said...

I think that all the guesses are low.. but then I love Cherries and the more the merrier. My guess is 999. Love the wallet.

Have a great holiday weekend and enjoy that cherry pie

Jan said...

Your photos of the cherries actually made my mouth water! I remember climbing a black cherry tree as a child living in Ohio. As I picked, I ate and was having a lovely time until I leaned back on a weak limb to rest. You guessed it, the limb broke and I tumbled about 15 feet to the ground. Fortunately, nothing was broken. I live in Arizona now and there's no cherry trees here at Sock Monkey Ranch...mores the pity.

I'm going to guess that there are 379 cherry pits.

Thanks for sharing and for bringing back some mouth-watering memories!

Anonymous said...

Once I served my little daughter some of my bottled cherries. I taught her how to eat them and how to spit out the stones. She then ate all the cherries and then promptly ate all the pits!

Brenda

Louise said...

Yum! I won't hazard a guess, though I want one of those. I'll buy one later.

What a FUN field trip. We lived in house with an orchard when I was a kid. The birds got most of the cherries, but it was so fun to pick the ones they didn't. (My mom pitted them.)

Lori said...

Boy, that cherry pitter is slick now! I'm guessing 256.

Cherry Hill Cottage~ said...

280 cherries~ beautiful post!
Tina~ Cherry Hill Cottage...

Cottage Rose said...

Hello Suzanne; What fun it must have been picking all those wonderful looking cherries. What a marvelous invention, a cherry pitter makes it a lot easy. They look very yummy... and what a great give a way, such a cute purse.... hmmmm my guess would be........ 275.. I can't wait to find out how many there really are.... Happy forth of July.
Hugs;
Alaura

Fresh Batch Jams said...

Yummy. I was told wild cherries were the best for jam. I have been asking around but have not found any wild cherry trees. Those look beautiful. My guess is 487

LDF said...

I'm not going to attempt a guess, but those are yummy looking cherries! What are you going to do with them? I used to make and freeze cherry pies ... mm mmm, they were good mid-winter! Happy July 4th!

Anonymous said...

259!

Jackie said...

530...and they look so good. How wonderful to live where these things grow and be able to get them fresh off the tree!

Liz said...

I'll guess 232!

One Gray Hair At A Time said...

703- just because my son just celebrated his birthday on 7/03. Boy do those cherries look beautiful hanging on the tree.

Sarah - Kala said...

344 pits/cherries.
Your photo's are lovely, too!

Anonymous said...

666
I can smell them baking

Mim said...

Mmmm, sounds good! My guess is 145 cherries pitted.

susie said...

412 cheery cherries! Thanks for the chance.

ArtPropelled said...

511 cherries!

ArtPropelled said...

Somebody already said 511....so I say 516

dara said...

I love cherries! They are such a happy fruit. I am going to gess that you pitted 389 cherries. I have my grandmother's cherry pitter.

Heidi said...

230..... That is my final answer.... :)

Becky said...

Let's try 485! Have a great day!

Karen Deborah said...

500 even steven.

Karen Deborah said...

hum I just read Heidi's comment leaver it to her to think outside the bowl I mean box, but she's right you know as many as are in there. That works for me too, wish I would have thought of that first. Smart Alec youngster. Actually what I want is some cherries.

Capitolady said...

I will guess 213... :) I love cherry's and choke cherry jam.

Liz in PA said...

My guess is 787

I love sweet cherries!

Liz in PA said...

My guess is 787

I love sweet cherries!