Cherry Season

My expectations of the 2016 cherry season were grim.  With the extremely warm temperatures in March causing many plants to break dormancy early including my cherry trees which flowered profusely, beautifully and fragrantly; followed by many days of freezing overnight temperatures and ending with weeks of continuous rain, I gave up all hope of any kind of cherry harvest.

I was wrong.

sweet cherries

look closely for the ant

Even though the sweet cherry blossoms were in full glory when the freezing temperatures returned, we had a very decent crop compared to the non-existent, as in not one sweet cherry, crop of 2015. So, this year’s cherries tasted all the sweeter.  We beat the birds to the harvest, too.  Actually, what damage/loss we had to the fruit was the result of black ants.  The ants were small in size and numbers, so they did not prove to be much competition in absconding with the ripe berries. 

Besides the actually harvested cherries, the best are those eaten on the run while doing chores in the orchard area. If I needed a treat, I just grabbed a handful of juicy red fruit and popped it into my mouth. Yummy!

Our sour cherries were harvested about one week later. 

Again, early on, I thought that the sour cherries would not produce much useable fruit.  The cherries were no larger than the size of the pits within as they started to turn red.  But in a few short days, the fruit plumped, deepened in color and was ready to pick.

The small tree was full of cherries.  Glenn was so happy.  This tree is growing in our yard for the sole purpose of providing fruit for Glenn’s favorite pie…cherry.  The work to harvest and prepare for freezing is tedious.  Definitely, a labor of love.

Glenn picked most of the cherries while I ran the filled bowls into the house for washing. Only the biggest and reddest cherries were picked.  It was obvious that a second picking would be necessary in another few days as a good portion of the cherries were still pinkish.

Once all the red cherries were picked, the work became all mine.  I washed, pitted, mixed with sugar, ladled into freezer container, labeled and placed the containers safely in the freezer.  When I am ready to treat Glenn to a homemade cherry pie, I will just go and get a container of our homegrown and oh, so delicious cherries out of the freezer to place into my homemade pie crust.  No store bought here. 

notice the bird detractors?

sour cherries

The worst of the process is the pitting.  It took me four hours to pit about 7 quarts of cherries.  I ended up very sticky – hands, arms, legs, head. Cherries are quite juicy. As I stood up from hours of sitting in one position, I lost my balance because my legs were stiff. I was carrying a bowl, empty of cherries but about a quarter-filled with cherry juice.  The sticky liquid went flying… all over me! Besides numb limbs, my back feels like it will never quite be the same – oh, the pain.  What a person, me, does for love – ugh!  Fortunately, once I stretch and get out all the kinks, I feel fine again.

Later in the day, I walk past that sour cherry tree and it looks like we never harvested one cherry.  Oh no…I see another grueling day in my near future. 

The up side is that once all the cherries are harvested, that is it for the season.  No new cherries are produced.  Unlike raspberries or strawberries which can keep producing new fruit ad nauseum for weeks. Therefore, an end is forthcoming with cherries, and I can transfer my attention to other back-breaking produce harvesting.

And, then it starts all over again the next year. 

The joy of growing and eating your own foodstuffs…actually, the hard work is well worth the amazing taste and personal satisfaction.