Fruition

I am pleased to announce that we are in a time of fruition on the homestead, with all the hard work over these last couple of years paying off in cherries, blueberries, strawberries, marionberries and thimbleberries. The cherries are especially exciting because it is the first time I have ever had my own crop of homegrown cherries. There was a cherry tree here when we moved in that never fruited, and I was giving it one last chance this year before it became firewood. As it turned out, it wasn’t getting pollinated by the other cherry trees in the area, and it took the Stella and Royal Ann we planted last year to flower and cross pollinate. I’m sure glad I didn’t cut it down. We also added a Rainier this year, so my dream of being inundated with cherries is not too far from coming true.

 

The blueberry crop, while not as big as last year, is still respectable enough to fill the freezer and enjoy fresh munching.

 

Although we have a good, steady crop of strawberries for fresh eating, we still made our annual trip to Riverbend Farms to put up freezer jam and make a giant shortcake for my birthday. With a couple more dedicated raised beds, we could eventually achieve strawberry independence, but the farm trip is something I would miss.

This year I tried something new and made rose petal jam from the rosebush at the end of our driveway. I found this great recipe on the Feasting at Home Blog, that I would highly recommend: Rose Petal Jam. I was so afraid of it not jelling properly, that I over-did it a little and made it pretty thick, but I like it that way.

And while we are on the topic of Fruition, there is a great local band up in Portland by that name, who make some mighty fine tunes to jam while making jam. Here’s a video of them at one of my favorite venues, the Wonder Ballroom,  playing my favorite tune of theirs, “Mountain Annie.” 

Happy jamming and enjoy your fruition!