Someone please stop us from buying more trees. We are totally out of space! Vince wanted pear trees . . fine, I got the peach and plums I wanted but I would love a cherry tree or two but that’s not happening. Vince has been looking for a pear tree as the stores are getting their trees in. We were in Carthage this morning and Vince wanted to run by Lowe’s and see if they had pears and they did.
They had five Moonglow pears so we grabbed one of those.
It needs a pollinator and I would have preferred a Barlett pear but they didn’t have those. They had three Kieffer pears so we got one of those.
We’ll keep checking and if we find a Bartlett, and we should be able to find one, then we’ll get it and then we will absolutely not buy another tree unless it’s to replace one that dies. The Bartlett is my favorite pear to can. I love home canned pears. My grandma had pear trees and she would sometimes cook down a quart jar and make “pear syrup” for pancakes. She made the best pear preserves and pear pies. She would can pear halves and then serve them as a “salad”. I never liked it like that but she would put a bit of mayo in the center, add grated cheddar and put all that over shredded lettuce. I thought it was weird but here’s a recipe with pictures.
I was telling Vince how much I love canned pears and he said “How many jars per year would you like to can?” I told him . . at least 150. He thinks I’m crazy but that’s only three jars per week to enjoy. I wouldn’t make a pear pie every week but I could see making pear syrup for pancakes, opening a jar just to eat, and using a jar of pear preserves every week or so. Plus I’d need to give some to Chad. I’ll never have 150 jars of any one thing but if it were to happen, I’d be happy for it to be home grown pears. But, on the other hand, it will be probably three years before they produce and will I even be canning by then? Who knows?
We’ve planted 3 peach trees, 2 plum trees, 3 sassafras trees, 3 chinquapins, 3 fig trees, 5 or 6 chokecherries, 5 or 6 nannyberries and probably 40 other shrubby type trees, along with probably 40 elderberries along the property line and about a 30′ row of raspberries. We are totally out of room!
Poor Vince . . digging here is torture.
The ground is almost totally rock.
Vince was still digging rocks out of the hole when I took this picture. That’s a LOT of rock. It’s everywhere . . that’s why my gardening is done in raised beds and grow bags.
I think it takes a couple of years to get pears so we probably won’t have any til at least 2026. We should get raspberries, plums and maybe a few peaches this year. Of course, barring something weird, we’ll be over run with elderberries and that’s just from the 3 or 4 that I planted three years ago. As more and more of the elderberries start producing, I’ll be able to harvest some of the blossoms.
Vince added a bit of composted cow manure, peat and more leaves the raised beds. I added more compost from the compost bin so we’re getting closer to being ready to plant a garden.
Cindi says
I have had the pear salad and enjoyed it. Did you get your worm composter set up? I’d love to see a post about that.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Not really. Vince is in charge of the worms . . doing it his way. I don’t think he’s really “into it” but he doesn’t want me messing with them so I’m not bugging him about it.
Rosalie says
I know you don’t have room but a cherry tree would be great!
I’m in Texas and would love to be able to grow cherries. My cousins neighbor had one and my grandma had one on the farm in Indiana.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I want a sour cherry tree so bad but Vince is determined he’s not getting it. We had three in Texas and I knew they would never produce but by the time we left there, I’d get half a dozen or so cherries off each one. They do grow well here. Maybe I’ll get one . . I’ll have to work on that.
Dottie says
We had pear trees when we lived in WV – loved canning them and also making pear butter and pear jelly. My grandson LOVED coming to Grammy and Granddad’s and eating the pears off the tree + loved the canned pears that they would take home.
JanetB says
My late husband loved pear salad. I think his mother fixed it when he was growing up. i used to fix it for him at least every other week.
Beryl Redfield says
My mother served pear salad like you describe and of course I did the same with my family. Haven’t had it since the 1980s. I’d like to revive that custom!
cindy says
We, too, had pear salad but we put cottage cheese in ours. I don’t know if that is the way my mother learned it or if my father didn’t like it with the mayo.
Rebecca L says
.That’s the way I learned pear salad. When I was little, I sometimes made “bunnies” with the rounded pear side up and cottage cheese for the tail. I may have used sliced almonds for the ears?
That certainly wasn’t because my father didn’t like the mayo version (maybe my mother), as he would put the stuff on jello salads.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
How cute. Now that you mention that, I think my grandma had a recipe for some kind of jello salad that had a layer of mayo on top and then nuts but that is all I remember about it. Maybe pineapple in the jello? Totally cannot remember but your comment jogged some bit of memory.
Stephen Wiedenbeck says
Buy a tree on me!!! Vince needs the exercise!!!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Thanks, Steve! 🙂