Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

[PDBRadley]

Thanks Cranky, Normandie and Stillanoob for your input and direction. It's much appreciated.

[cranky]

Well...

Mrs Cranky had something important to do first thing this morning so she left me alone to take the dog to day care in the truck

On the way back for some reason the truck mysteriously pulled left, then right then right again and somehow I found myself sitting in front of the small green apple tree So I figured the truck must want me to pick some more and I want to keep the truck happy so I picked everything that was left on the small green and the 2 or 3 left on the Roma.

That amounted to only half a bucket so the truck still wasn't satisfied

The next think I knew I was sitting half a block away next to the Black With the black being so time consuming to pick I had given up on it some time ago but I wanted to make the truck happy so I gave it my all and picked what I could. This amounted to another half bucket of blacks giving one full bucket between the two of them.

This seemed to make the truck happy because we just drove right past the front yard tree...although I did look and I could potentially get at least a few more buckets off of it but this one was enough for now. Mainly because there were a lot of cars in front of the house, more than usual, so I think they must have guests and I didn't want to make the dogs bark and wake everybody up.

Running bucket total so far is 55 with 7 now in the back of the truck.

Now I need to go finish making a sleigh for the dog to pull

[Bushman]

Just think Cranky if you lived in Norway you wouldn’t have to work so hard.
[attachment=0]IMG_1939.jpeg[/attachment]

[cranky]

Just think Cranky if you lived in Norway you wouldn’t have to work so hard.
IMG_1938.jpeg

I can't see that image

[Bushman]

Just think Cranky if you lived in Norway you wouldn’t have to work so hard.
IMG_1938.jpeg

I can't see that image

tried to fix it. Did everything I usually do but image text appears with image??
Also this is not a National thing but many people do it.

[cranky]

Just think Cranky if you lived in Norway you wouldn’t have to work so hard.
IMG_1938.jpeg

I can't see that image

tried to fix it. Did everything I usually do but image text appears with image??
Also this is not a National thing but many people do it.

That's a very nice thing to do. I've actually occasionally seen someone put out bags or buckets of apples locally with signs saying "free apples" but it isn't very frequently. Most people just let them drop.

The guy with the Romas actually told me I could pick whatever I wanted "but they are all wormy". In reality only about 2/3rds of the Romas were wormy and although they were scabby the small greens had very few worms.

[subbrew]

Just realized as I was making a wine reduction to put on a pot roast. All these years I have just been adding brandy backset to my pot roast.

[juana_b]

Here's what I've found at my new place so far:
Peaches, plum, pears, pomegranate, fig, avocados, banana lilikoi, loquat, soursop, macadamia nut, sugar cane, one blue agave, persimmons, one small hibiscus, dragon fruit with no flowers(has to be hand pollinated anyway), some kind of wild raspberry things, and a small patch of blackberry that may need to be removed.
Every week I find more fruit.
Most will take some time to ripen, some will be ready shortly.
Oh, and axis deer. That's a fruit right?
When leaving for the airport one morning two bucks walked by me at 20 yards away and didn't even notice me.
Between the fruit and deer, I need another freezer.
And to top it all off, the climate and sunsets are brilliant at 3500ft.
Now I just have to figure out how to spend more time here.
I seem to have gone from problems that nobody has time for, to problems that I want more time for.

Edit: just spotted 6 quale.
Edit 2: a buck just ran passed me me less than 10 yards away then across the road! F me dead, this place is cool.

[MooseMan]

Don't fancy a summer visitor, do you?

If there is good fishing close by too, I might even pay? Hahaha

Honestly Juana it sounds idyllic.

[Saltbush Bill]

Why do the dragon fruit need hand pollination, the ones I grow here never fail to self pollinate.
Is this a variety related thing??
I'm currently planting a heap more in the hope of getting enough fruit to ferment them to make a spirit.
My existing plant produces quite a few each year as is, but family and friends eat them faster than they rippen.

[cranky]

Here's what I've found at my new place so far:
Peaches, plum, pears, pomegranate, fig, avocados, banana lilikoi, loquat, soursop, macadamia nut, sugar cane, one blue agave, persimmons, one small hibiscus, dragon fruit with no flowers(has to be hand pollinated anyway), some kind of wild raspberry things, and a small patch of blackberry that may need to be removed.
Every week I find more fruit.
Most will take some time to ripen, some will be ready shortly.
Oh, and axis deer. That's a fruit right?
When leaving for the airport one morning two bucks walked by me at 20 yards away and didn't even notice me.
Between the fruit and deer, I need another freezer.
And to top it all off, the climate and sunsets are brilliant at 3500ft.
Now I just have to figure out how to spend more time here.
I seem to have gone from problems that nobody has time for, to problems that I want more time for.

Edit: just spotted 6 quale.
Edit 2: a buck just ran passed me me less than 10 yards away then across the road! F me dead, this place is cool.

That's pretty awesome! Sometimes I watch those real estate shows and they show so much fruit growing in Hawaii it makes me jealous

[cranky]

I've been meaning to make a post about my fruit for a while but wanted to get picture first.

Today I finally took some.

All of my Karen's Delight apple trees set fruit this year. This is the first year for the ones I grew from cuttings I rooted. I'm very happy about that

The big KD has been producing fore a few years now and this year is going crazy. The branches are already getting weighed down and it still has 4 more months before the apples will be ripe.

The cherries are going crazy too

and for the first time since I relocated it the banana plum is once again producing

However not all fruit is going great this year. My pears have always struggled and this year is no exception but there is a little fruit on them but not much.

I think I may see if the Shinseiki down the road produced this year and see if the owner of it is willing to let me have them, but for the most part I'm planning on giving fruit a pass this year. If anybody local would be interested in the locations of my usual apple trees so you can give apple brandy a go, let me know.

The fruit that has suffered the most this past winter/spring has been the strawberries. I lost 90% of my strawberry plants this year and don't really know if I'm going to rebuild them.

Blackberries of course are going crazy I got 5 gallons of berries last year from the ones I trained on my fence and this year they look even fuller. Of course 5 gallons if berries only translates to around 3 gallons of pure juice. However, Mrs Cranky has gotten it into her hear that she is going to sell my shed/shop and the only way to get it off the property is to remove those berries so we may not get anything from them this year

I actually just juiced the ones from last year, but Mrs Cranky is already planning on using most of that for pies and probably jelly since we just ran out of jelly

[NormandieStill]

but for the most part I'm planning on giving fruit a pass this year.

I've only been here a few years but don't you say something of this nature every year?

Friends with eating apples say that this year's not too promising here. We managed to avoid the worst of the frosts but it was very wet and windy when the apple trees were flowering. The cider apples apparently flower earlier and missed the wet season.

I need to do my tour of the sloe bushes and see how they're doing. Last year was a good year but I couldn't make the time when they were ripe so I missed them. Hoping to be more organised this year.

The raspberry patch in the garden is steadily growing but I don't know if I can wrangle any for experiments. I'd like to try a geist and maybe a raspberry gin.

In spring some friends gave us a blackcurrant bush which seems to have rooted in nicely. In a year or two we should be autonomous for creme de cassis.

[MooseMan]

Most fruits are blossoming heavy in my area this summer.

I stumbled over a very heavy fruiting elder 3 years ago on a forage. It was hanging full on every branch.

Took a few cuttings and put the strongest one in the garden.

This year it's blossomed well, not quite as heavy as the parent tree, but it's young yet!

[cranky]

but for the most part I'm planning on giving fruit a pass this year.

I've only been here a few years but don't you say something of this nature every year?

It seems like I do often say that then wind up with so much free apples I just have to do something.

Last year was like that. The apples overproduced so much I just had to.

Part of that is if you skip a year you might lose the trees in following years to someone else or that dreaded City Fruit group .

Also, I didn't pick nearly as many apples last year as I could have and I'm guessing this year could easily be a 100 gallon year, but this year I thoroughly intend to not pick any apples that aren't in my own yard. That's why I'm offering the locations of my trees to someone who will make use of them. I'm even willing to loan out my chopper to the right people. That makes processing super fast, a person or two could easily do 100+ gallons in a weekend with that. I'd offer to loan out my press too but it's in no condition to be used. I've been considering building another one capable of handling 300-500# at a time but time isn't something I have much of right now...or for the foreseeable future. I can't even seem to find the time to run the 69 gallons I pressed last year

[Bradster68]

That's why I'm offering the locations of my trees to someone who will make use of them. I'm even willing to loan out my chopper to the right people.
Dam.... I wish I was closer and could help you out with your "issue"

[cranky]

That's why I'm offering the locations of my trees to someone who will make use of them. I'm even willing to loan out my chopper to the right people.
Dam.... I wish I was closer and could help you out with your "issue"

Apple season is about to start too. I'm expecting it to start a little late though, so probably the end of July...Hmmmm ...come to think of it, I think I have the first week of august off and could give someone a quick lesson in the use of the chopper just in time to deal with the yellow transparents and Vista Bellas.

[subbrew]

Perhaps start a new thread, "PNW apples to a good home" or some such so people that do not follow this thread will see it? I know we have had numerous PNW people join the site recently.

[cranky]

Perhaps start a new thread, "PNW apples to a good home" or some such so people that do not follow this thread will see it? I know we have had numerous PNW people join the site recently.

That might not be a bad idea

[Bushman]

Spent part of the 4 day work party at my friends 40 acres pruning the apple trees in the upper orchard hoping for a good crop.

[juana_b]

Don't fancy a summer visitor, do you? My travel schedule sucks, so give me a heads up if you're headed my may

If there is good fishing close by too, I might even pay? Hahaha The Pacific Ocean

Honestly Juana it sounds idyllic.

[juana_b]

Why do the dragon fruit need hand pollination, the ones I grow here never fail to self pollinate.
Is this a variety related thing?? IDK, everything I've seen here needs hand pollination(so I've been told anyway)
I'm currently planting a heap more in the hope of getting enough fruit to ferment them to make a spirit.
My existing plant produces quite a few each year as is, but family and friends eat them faster than they rippen.

[cranky]

Spent part of the 4 day work party at my friends 40 acres pruning the apple trees in the upper orchard hoping for a good crop.

I haven't looked at many trees yet this year but most of my fruit trees are producing heavily this year. The exceptions seem to be the pears and my front yard tree only set fruit on a few branches. I'll have to go look at the trees I normally pick and see how they look but I expect it's going to be an exceptional year again.

My cherry trees are going crazy

[stillanoob]

The Damson plums I planted a couple of years ago are loaded this year. Still not a huge amount because they are small trees but maybe enough to pinch off a small batch of Slivovitz. Even just tasting them fermented will be very interesting.

Finally doing the spirit run from last year's cider on Thursday.

[cranky]

I've been picking cherries for Mrs Cranky for about a week now. She has been getting about a pound a day from the tree she talks to every morning that went crazy this year. This morning I decided it was finally time to pick in earnest, so I got out my ladders and went to town picking whatever looked close to ripe. The darker they get the sweeter they are but also the more birds, bugs and ants eat them, so it's kind of a balancing act.

In all I picked 3/4 of a bucket...possibly a 4 gallon bucket... which is about 17lbs.

Now I have a serious problem, I have nowhere to put that many cherries On top of that I haven't picked much of anything from the other tree which is lagging behind on ripening and not quite as productive but will most certainly be enough for at least another half bucket.

[cranky]

Today I picked most of the rest of the cherries off the back tree that Mrs Cranky likes to talk to. I also picked a few off the other tree but it's hot and sunny and I got tired so maybe I'll pick more tomorrow.

I didn't weigh them but I got this many

I think that is just slightly less than the amount I picked the other day but I think I'm somewhere around 25 lbs, possibly a little over, for the year so far. I think there might be as many as another half bucket left on the other tree if I get around to it.

Now I need to set up the pitter and put Mrs Cranky to work pitting them all. She has a real tendency to eat about half of them but I think she'd be hard pressed to do that this time

[cranky]

Last night when I got the cherries washed and bagged up I decided to weigh them. I have 6 one gallon bags full plus a partial and all together they weigh 31lbs but that leaves me with a pretty serious problem I'm out of both refrigerator and freezer space and still have an entire other tree to pick

[Steve Broady]

..the tree she talks to every morning that went crazy this year.

Cranky, I LOVE your sense of humor! Are you sure it’s the tree that went crazy?

[cranky]

..the tree she talks to every morning that went crazy this year.

Cranky, I LOVE your sense of humor! Are you sure it’s the tree that went crazy?

Hey, I don't care who the crazy one is as long as the tree produces 40lbs of cherries a year

[cranky]

Well, my cherry season is pretty much over now. Today I picked the majority of everything left on both trees, which got me another 16 lbs. I now have 47lbs of cherries in the fridge that I need to pit and figure out what to do with