As I have been preoccupied in the basement, the garden has been largely neglected. I am pretty much the only one who does anything out there, so it gets out of shape pretty fast when I am on something else. However, today after doing a little prep for some painting tonight, I decided I would mow the lawn before it gets so unruly the mower won't cut it.
But before I could do that...
I had to pick up apples.
There are still a billion apples on the tree, but they have been falling in the wind, and getting pulled down by the flocks of crows and ravens that have been haunting our house the last week, taking all the fruit they can get their claws on. It took me a good half hour to collect the apples up, and I still didn't get them all - but it was enough to overfill a wheelbarrow.
However, while picking them up, a woman walked past I hadn't seen before and she stopped for a chat and asked what I was going to do with all of the apples. While she spoke Finnish to begin with, she was obviously not Finnish and ended up being from Korea. I invited her into the garden to take some apples for her and her daughter who goes to a nearby school and is about the same age as my daughter. We ended up chatting for ten minutes and talking about learning Finnish, English and the cultural differences between here and Korea. She is divorced from a Finn, but she stays in Finland with her daughter because she has more freedoms here, and far less expectation on her as a woman. I have always found it strange how a country as technologically advanced as Korea, can still be so culturally traditional.
I invited her to come back with her daughter and take as many apples as they want.
And cherries too, if they are interested.
Last Autumn I gave our cherry tree a very heavy pruning and this year, it is so full of cherries the branches are bending down and look like some might crack in the wind. It is insane how many there are on the tree, even after my wife took a pile to work for their cafeteria to use, her family took a tonne, and the birds have been feasting like they might never eat again. And still, there are piles and piles, so I decided I am going to get some and make a cherry pie (unfortunately gluten-free) for the family tomorrow, as it is my daughter's birthday.
I have never made a sweet pie before.
How hard can it be?
Oh, and Finns don't seem to like cherries all that much, but I do, we have them, and I am determined to make something at least edible. I have looked at a few recipes, but half the stuff they talk of I can't even get here, and while I know it likely exists, I have no idea what or where - so I am largely going to make it up. And with some vanilla sauce, I am sure that it will be fine.
At least my daughter will have some kind of cake for her birthday by the time she gets home from school - though we are still yet to get her an actual present. She doesn't really have anything in mind that she wants (or needs), so my wife is planning to do something with her in the Autumn holidays instead of getting her something. That is fine, but a bit lame in my opinion. Still, she will get other stuff from family.
And a cherry pie.
Now, hopefully after the yard work and writing, the filler I placed in the floor is dry enough to paint over. I am not expecting it to be a brilliant outcome considering the condition of the floor currently, so I am not too fussed with the details. It is more important that it is dry in a day or two so I can walk on it and do some other stuff there.
Tomorrow I will be baking pie anyway.
Taraz
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Damn. these photos make me envious. I don't know if there are still any cherries in the big shop but it seems that their season is over- for a week or so I did not see any cherries at the vegetable stall. In the future I may try planting some cherries in our yard as well. Right now we only have 3 apple trees and bit off raspberries.
I haven't bought any cherries this year to eat, which is a shame. I like the sweet ones and wonder why people didn't plant sweet trees back in the day. Not sure how long it takes for a tree to bear fruit, but the small one we have gets a lot of cherries and it can't be more than 7-10 years. We have been here 6 years, and it has always had decent amounts.
Oh wow, those cherries look amazing. I'm a big fan of the Rainier variety, but I wouldn't turn down any style. They get to be pretty expensive over here even though we have a national cherry festival in the northern part of the state. We had an apple tree at our old house. My friend would come pick them up to use for deer hunting bait.
I have never had a rainier cherry, but I hear they are great.
That is a good deal. Did you get some deer meat sometimes too?
No, my one friend doesn't usually get anything. I'm not a huge fan of venison and my wife won't even touch the stuff.
Wrong bait? :D
I think it has more to do with the spots he picks :) But he keeps going back there!
Here they hunt moose, but you have to be part of a moose hunting club. It is a weird setup, as only a couple people are allowed to carry guns, the rest just walk in a line.
Oh, that does sound interesting. I know with bear over here you need a special permit, but pretty much everyone has a gun! :)
Our cherry tree in the backyard hasn't produced good fruit for the past two years as a building was constructed in a way that blocks the sunlight it used to get. I am going to prune it in the fall and see how it does next summer.
Last year this same tree had almost nothing on it. After a heavy prune it has sprung back awesomely!
It was a good harvest. Back when I was in school, my parents used to set jars of cherry and raspberry infusions on the windowsill; without adding any extra alcohol, the resulting drink had an ABV of 9–10%. But what I loved most of all was fetching a jar of cherry compote from the cellar in winter—it was my absolute favorite among the dozen or so varieties of berry compote we had.
I have never really cooked and stored fruit like that before. It is popular to do here with summer berries though. Have never made alcohol either! :D
I love cherries. Those look like sour cherries and perfect for a pie... We have a lot of cherries, but the red ones look different and the girls actually prefer Rainier cherries (the yellow ones).
Yep, these are sour cherries. However, this year they are pretty sweet!
I have never had rainier cherries. Don't think they have them here at all and I haven't seen them in Australia either.
There’s one thing that makes me angry, and it’s when food goes bad. Here in Cuba, many harvests are lost every year, and I’ve also seen people who have fruits in their yards like mango, mamoncillo, and cherries, and instead of sharing with so many hungry people around, they just let them fall to the ground and rot there
Yeah, I don't like that either. Her it is a bit different with the apples though, as so many people have apple trees that we can't even give them away.
Nature sometimes gives us more than we need, and others it treats more harshly in that sense when it comes to fruit trees. Here in my neighborhood something similar could happen to what happens in yours with apples, only with almonds, but people in their infinite wisdom have cut down most of the ones that were there, because according to them they attract too many mosquitoes
Those cherries are looking amazing and it is so grate to see what nature provides us with so little effort. I am sure the cherry cakes will taste out of this world. 😊
Like an alien made it :D
I like how a simple thing like having too many fruits can turn into an opportunity to share with someone. And now I’m curious to see how that first cherry pie turns out.
Me too!
Those cherries are beautiful. Should pur em up on a cupcake...
Might see if I can make a little cherry cupcake with leftovers :D
Or make cherry spread and use it on loaf with coffee in morning. Perfectum 😊
Make cider 😀
I do like cider. I have never tried - is it easy to do?
The pictures are seducing. Nice put up
Do they make you horny baby, do they?
Certainly not, I maintain my steeze always.
I guess it depends on what your "love language" is. J, myself and the kids are happy with stuff when it's stuff we wanted or needed but maybe didn't get for ourselves because money is a thing, and sometimes we even get gifted something we never realised we needed til we got it XD but otherwise it's just stuff that's just there at best and wasting space at worst. And then on one hand my mum and sister absolutely ADORE picking out and giving gifts so after a few attempts I didn't stop them because it wasn't hurting us and it was making them happy (they're pretty good at getting stuff that's either useful or that we at least like) and on the other there's someone I know who adores receiving gifts (I don't know if they're as keen on giving) and months before Christmas and their birthday they're already looking around online for things they're going to get their partner and kids to get for them.
That haul is looking pretty good! Had to giggle, you're like some old neighbours back home, every other house has a mango tree (including my parents though the really big old one died some years back and there's now a smaller one growing in a different spot). Conveniently it seems that a lot of them are different types so they have overlapping fruiting seasons. Ours had either not started yet or just finished and as we were passing the neighbour's house we saw they had some on the ground so asked the "uncle" if we could have a couple and he just whipped out this huge sack and helped us fill it XD
Are the trees not close enough to the boundary that people would help themselves to surplus on the way past?
I don't care for cherries by themselves, but love cherry pies. Very nice of you to invite the lady to take the apples so they won't go to waste. Think I would do the same. IN fact I would send out invites for neighbors to take what they want. Those things stink if they sit on the ground and rot.
Thanks!