Yesterday when Vince came home at lunch, he told me a friend had invited us over after work to pick cherries. You don’t have to ask me twice to go get something that’s not easy to find. There’s hardly a food I don’t like and I so often say “Oh, that’s my favorite food!” But, I really love cherry anything. So, when Vince got home . . off we went just a couple of blocks to pick cherries. We picked for 2 hours! You know Vince . . if it’s free, we’ll take it all! I kept thinking . . something has to be done with these cherries and I know who’s the one that will be doing it. Maybe 10 pounds is enough. No? Maybe 15 pounds is enough. No?
We picked about 25 pounds.
Remember my clean kitchen from Tuesday? 24 hours, here’s how it looked!
A big mess! Thank goodness dinner was done and just needed to be heated. We didn’t get home from picking cherries til almost 8 p.m.
I washed the cherries and picked out the bad ones. Vince ran the stoner. Nice green shirt, huh? 🙂
After the stones were removed, I put up 6 packs for cherry pies and the rest of the cherries went into the fridge for processing today.
35 half pints of jelly and jam. Part of that is 7 half pints of mulberry jelly from our mulberries. I think I forgot to write that there’s another mulberry tree behind the barn and it has really good mulberries. Chad found it . . I didn’t know we had it. So today, I put up the 7 half pints of mulberry jelly, 15 half pints of cherry jam and 13 half pints of cherry jelly. I’ll give some of the cherry jelly and jam to the people who gave us the cherries and we’ll still have plenty.
Tonight for dinner, I think we’re having toast and jelly! 🙂
CJ says
Oh yum, I love cherries! Gosh those are some gorgeous looking cherries at that! I probably would have made cherry juice and canned it… how I love that stuff! Who can afford to buy it even if you can find it?
Judy D says
I always learn something from you…..I had no idea there was such a thing called a stoner–that’s isn’t what I know as a stoner.
😉
Your jelly looks delicious……
Toni says
Judy, where did you get the stoner? I often have access to cherries, but they are the “pits” to stone with a drinking straw.
jolyn says
Can I come for supper? I’ll even bring some rye bread!!
pdudgeon says
that was really nice of Vince to stone the cherries for you!
he makes some nice friends!
JOY says
YUM! while it messed up your kitchen, you will be enjoying those cherries a while…so it was worth it!
Vicky says
I would have SO helped if I lived nearby. I love cherries, too! Vince is such a good sport about having his picture taken!
Kathy E. says
YUMMO! Cherries!! Now THAT is something we definitely CAN’T get here in LA!! Wanna swap cherries for figs???? You can come pick all the figs you want (and can beat the critters to) for a couple of jars of cherry anything!! They should be ready sometime in July. Serious! Just saying… You probably need to make a summer trip south anyway!!
Kat
Pat says
My mouth is watering!!!
Julie says
I’d love to be at your house for dinner tonight – homemade bread and fresh jam! That’s like dying and going to heaven!! Your finished products looks great!
Kate says
Oh I do love your blog… so fresh and different and honest! But boy you do work a lot – gardening, canning, quilting… makes me tired… but I can tell Vince is having lots of fun… what a great little grin he has! Does he know we all love him??
Maria Stahl says
Are they sweet or sour cherries? I’m guessing sour by the color?
I love them so much. 🙂
Kelly Ann says
I’m just gonna say this once….I LOVE CHERRIES…cherry anything…there I said it….it’s out in the open…
Linda says
Cherries……yummmm!! I’d make some cherry pie filling if I had some cherries. Cherry pie with ice cream……..even more yummmm.
Denise says
Yum – they look wonderful! I haven’t had dinner yet – pass the jelly pleeze!
Peggy says
I agree with you about being willing to pick cherries. I love them also. My neighbor in Ohio had a very large cherry tree. Everyone would pick cherries until we could no longer reach the last ones at the top.
My last experience picking cherries was here in Kentucky. Our little tree had a fair amount of cherries. I was picking cherries while my Dad was doing something else in the orchard. I reached into the tree and a snake gently let me know he was also in the tree…..well as gentle as a snake can be with someone deathly afraid of snakes. I let out a big scream! My Dad came running, because he thought I was really injured. We managed to lift the snake out of the tree realizing that it was not a dangerous snake. Dad put it on the ground and the dang snake came right towards me with half of his body up in the air. I screamed again and next thing I knew I was back in the van. Dad had to kill the snake, because it was still after me. If I had only know it was a black racer and had the courage to chase the snake we could have lived peacefully….well I know that isn’t true. That was the last time I picked cherries! Our tree has since died, so no cherry picking for me until I move.
Marie says
Cherries everything sure looks pretty, but do you have any idea how many cherries you can get off of 4 trees? As a kid, folks had 4 trees, maybe 8 to 10 feet tall. I got to pick all that I could reach from the ground and even got to use the little step ladder for ones that I couldn’t. I haven’t picked a cherry in 30 yrs and I don’t miss it. I have grapes and blackberries now, just because I had to have something that my folks raised and that’s enough. Blackberry cobbler and home made grape jelly tastes fantastic too.
Patchkat~ Susan in TX says
We miss picking cherries in High Rolls, NM….there’s no where around here to pick…but, there is a U Pick It place for Blackberries which are thriving right now and later on, peaches. Wish I had the cherry jam! MY FAVORITE!!! I’m a cherry anything freak. I’ve been purchasing them the last few weeks and taking a handful for my afternoon snack. Yum.
Kelli says
Looks so good. You should consider putting an entry in your state fair. I think you live in MO. ~ksp
http://www.mostatefair.com/Agriculture-Fine-Arts-Home-Economics.php
Donna in KS says
I chuckled when I came to your blog at 11:30 tonight. My husband picked cherries today too. He had been watching a couple of trees in the neighborhood and finally decided to stop and ask if they would use them. It was an elderly couple and she explained that they just couldn’t pick them any more and their children didn’t care to come do it. She was thrilled to have him pick! In the midst of his working with them this evening, our ac smoked! I was at a quilt show meeting. Many cherries just got sorted and washed and bagged to be jam later! But there will be pies and jam one day!!!
Diane says
When I was little my gramma’s sister had a sour cherry tree in her little yard, my gramma would bring them to my mom and she would make pies.
I forgot about that! (thanks for the memory jogg-er!)
I want to go buy a cherry tree for my yard…I can see my husband’s eyes rolling already. 🙂
Cherry Jam on leftover biscuits and coffee for breakfast-yum.
Nancy says
Judi,
Where do you get the energy…. to do all that in one day..?
In San Diego I have to go buy canned cherries or pay alot for them at the market. You are so lucky to have fresh FREE cherries.
Sequana says
Oh, how I love cherry pie…….and it’s almost impossible to get even the right canned ones anymore.
When I was a kid, I climbed in the tree at my gramma’s to pick, but didn’t have to get involved in the “putting up.” So many things you write about bring back good memories. *S*
Lynne in Hawaii says
I have always loved the sight of the newly canned food. It is a visual record of the labor you have just expended. Satisfying. Yours completed jars look wonderful!