Apricots!!
We have four apricot trees here on the 'farm'. Apricots bloom very early in the Spring, so the buds end up getting hit by frost most years. On average, we get apricots about 1 year out of 4. Happily, we got some this year!
One of the trees is just a baby - we got 5 or 6 apricots from that tree, but they were the prettiest, biggest, and tastiest. One of the old trees has really delicious, beautiful fruit, and the other two, well, not so great.
The 'good' tree has given us some nice fruit. We have eaten a lot of them fresh, and they are so, so good! Tonight, our little one was picking up fruit, eating about half of what she picked up, and she looked at me and said, "Mama, I am filled with JOY." (In reality, she is filled with JOY and APRICOTS, hee hee.)
I put up 3 jars of apricot jam and 3 apricot-almond jam. I was able to dehydrate some apricot halves - not a lot of them, but some! I made a wee batch of apricot syrup (I sugar-blanched the halves before drying them, and the remaining sugar solution, with a little pulp added, is simply divine!) Finally, there were some damaged bits, so I trimmed away the damage and made pulp from the remaining fruit. That has been lightly sweetened and frozen in ice cube trays. We can use the cubes in smoothies.
All the peels, icky spots, etc., went to the chicken yard. The birds are loving them! They are also getting some of the fruit from the two 'not so great' trees. Every time I look out, Marshmallow is tanking up on those apricots too - I wouldn't be surprised if his fur turned orange!
It has been a small, but very fun and tasty harvest!
One of the trees is just a baby - we got 5 or 6 apricots from that tree, but they were the prettiest, biggest, and tastiest. One of the old trees has really delicious, beautiful fruit, and the other two, well, not so great.
The 'good' tree has given us some nice fruit. We have eaten a lot of them fresh, and they are so, so good! Tonight, our little one was picking up fruit, eating about half of what she picked up, and she looked at me and said, "Mama, I am filled with JOY." (In reality, she is filled with JOY and APRICOTS, hee hee.)
I put up 3 jars of apricot jam and 3 apricot-almond jam. I was able to dehydrate some apricot halves - not a lot of them, but some! I made a wee batch of apricot syrup (I sugar-blanched the halves before drying them, and the remaining sugar solution, with a little pulp added, is simply divine!) Finally, there were some damaged bits, so I trimmed away the damage and made pulp from the remaining fruit. That has been lightly sweetened and frozen in ice cube trays. We can use the cubes in smoothies.
All the peels, icky spots, etc., went to the chicken yard. The birds are loving them! They are also getting some of the fruit from the two 'not so great' trees. Every time I look out, Marshmallow is tanking up on those apricots too - I wouldn't be surprised if his fur turned orange!
It has been a small, but very fun and tasty harvest!
Comments
That touched my heart!
ah...cute little Kitten, she is!