We got our van back (with a $2600 repair bill) and enjoyed having it around for a couple of days before my husband had to take it back today (it’s making a squealing sound that it didn’t have before, the mechanic said it’s the leftover grease when they put the engine back together, but it’s really horrible sounding). Anyway, something I enjoyed about not having a vehicle for a week and a half was walking more.
When you walk, you see things that you don’t see when you’re driving. And something I noticed were several fruit trees in yards within a ten minute walk. I decided to ask the owners if I could pick the fruit, thinking that if they didn’t use the fruit (I expected that most of them wouldn’t), they would otherwise have lots of rotten fruit on their yards, and it would be a win win situation for all of us. Friday afternoon I was passing one home and spontaneously asked the first person, and his response was so positive and immediate that it took away any hesitation I was feeling about asking. Today I asked the other two, they also readily agreed. Yay!!
One has three pear trees, one has two apple trees, and one has three apple trees. None of them are fruit like the store has, so I’ll have to see what the quality is like. But free fruit is free fruit – the worse that can happen is the effort won’t be worth doing it again. The apples aren’t ripe yet, but the pears look like they are, because some of them are dropping off the tree and pears are supposed to be picked before they’re ripe enough to fall on their own. Tomorrow the kids and I will go pick the pears, and see what we can do with them. I’m not sure how we’ll reach the high branches, but my 9 year old son thought of bringing our fishing net (looks like a butterfly net but the netting is wider). I thought that was a fantastic idea. 🙂
My plan is to preserve them, not eat them raw. I don’t think I’ll make much jam, if any, since we don’t use a lot of jam (because of the sugar content). Maybe tonight I’ll cruise the web and see what kind of recipes for canned pears I can find – I just want to do something simple like compote or pear sauce, that has no sugar in it. If whatever I end up making is tasty, then I’ll send a jar or two over to each of the people whose trees we pick.
It’s amazing that food is literally available free for the taking, and everyone else is going by the same trees without even thinking about it. I wouldn’t have thought about it, either, before learning to can. After all, how much would I have been able to use before it spoiled if I picked it? But now I can take advantage of the sudden abundance and enjoy it in the winter when it’s cold and the fruits are no longer in season. Canning is a wonderful tool!
Avivah
