Cherry Pickin': The Farm Report 07-01-2021

 Cherry Pickin'

The Farm Report
07-01-2021

Time for some good news! It is cherry picking time, and this year in spite of -28F last winter, late frosts, cold spring, flash burn to 103F and no rain for what seemed like forever - TADA! I have a boat load of cherries. HOOOORAAAYYY!

Oceans and oceans of 'em this year. I got them sprayed at just the right time - which is right after the petals fall off from the blossoms. The bees have lost all interest by then so they aren't harmed - and the moths and flies and other creepie crawlies haven't had a chance to do much damage yet. Meaning: this year's cherries are clean and wonderful - and plentiful.

I love trying to be self-sufficient. I know I'm not really but it is a game I like playing. I like my own food, too. I was involved in manufacturing paint and paint removing chemicals and all kinds of glues and stains and lacquers when I had a real job. I know what manufacturing is; I'd prefer to produce my own food whenever I can, thank you. "What are you going to do with them?" We will figure that out later. Now, we're just harvesting!

The cherries are smallish this year. And I'm busy, and I'm good - really good - at making up excuses for not doing things I don't want to do. Like pitting cherries. Now not to be mistaken; I have two or three machines to take the pits out. It isn't really that big a chore when you've got equipment. Still, my heart just wasn't into pitting cherries this year - and I've still got bags full of pitted cherries safely laying in their beds of suspended animation in the deep freezers. So, I decided to dig out Joyce's steamer and just nuke 'em into juice.

Each steamer pan held about 15 pounds of cherries. These are Balaton's. I also have North Star and my new favorite - Danube. Danube has been with me for 7 or 8 years now. This is the first year she has decided to cough up any bounty.

 Danube is a hybrid cross between a Balaton sour cherry Prunus cerasus and a sweet cherry Prunus avium. (These were found in Hungary by Amy Lezzoni. Dr. Lezzoni is a researcher and plant breeder at Michigan State Univ.) In Hungary, Balaton is named, Újfehértói Fürtös. Lake Balaton isn't far away from where the tree was found, and we can say, 'Balaton' easier than Újfehértói Fürtös, so the North American name is Balaton. Now you know. Dr. Lezzoni is also responsible for bringing us the Danube cherry. In Hungary, it's name is, Erdi Bötermö. I like Danube better, and the Danube river runs through Hungary. All dots connected. Well as they say, 'A rose by any other name....' 

All three of my cherries have dark juice, dark flesh, and even though they are actually tart pie cherries, they are nearly sweet enough to eat without any honey or sugar added. Homemade black walnut and cherry ice cream may be in my future!

So here is my setup back in the Official Shop Canning Kitchen. Anybody can set up a canning kitchen - and you should. All you need is a source of water ( a hose? ) and some heat. My clunky old hand-me-down kitchen range ain't pretty, but she does the job. Water goes in the bottom container, the middle section is a fancy piece of sheet metal work that resembles an angle food cake pan on the inside. There is a stainless steel chimney that directs the steam up to the colander pan which is the pan on top holding the cherries. When you pour the cobs to this contraption, the steam goes up, the cell walls of the cherries pop and the juice runs down through the colander into the middle pan and collects there. The hose on the side is to drain off the 'pure quill' juice as my Grand Dad would have called it. 

The steam does not dilute the juice. In fact, the steam has nothing to do with the process except exploding the cherry cell walls. After about an hour or an hour and a half of boiling, I'll have about a gallon and a half of juice. The stainless kettle on the left is to collect the juice from the steamer.

Or not.... Here is another reason to have a summer canning kitchen. Cripes! The first batch was perfect. "No Brainer!" said I. Then I got to fooling around in the garden and working with one of my new inventions for Henry Ford - and I'm an old guy - and I forgot to check progress on the juicer. Poop! The middle pan holds about a gallon. I already knew I needed to drain off some juice midway through. Obviously, knowledge was not trumped by wisdom this time. 

In the canning kitchen, we clean up with a power washer and floor dry. "Meh" and we go on. In the house, this would have been a nuclear disaster. Oh well.....

These are my grandkids, Miles and Evie. This is a farm report, and I don't usually put people pics in here. But hey, I'm Grandpa, and I don't get to see my kids too often. Humor me. They live a long way away, and with COVID-19 it has been 2 years since we've been able to be face-to-face together. I'm a big guy. Miles is a really big guy! Evie is my sweetheart.

Speaking of sweethearts, Annie has found her new BFF. Evie and Annie were pretty much inseperable for their whole visit. That's Evie's mom, my daughter in law, Tracy, sitting next to her. She is an RN. 

I'm going to put in a plug for Tracy and all the nurses and doctors who have spent the last year watching people get sick and sometimes die from COVID-19: She has been on the front line in the hospital for the last year and a half, exposing herself and possibly her family (and me, which is why we haven't been together for so long) to this virus. So, whatever your position, I think we owe all the docs and nurses more than an extended political middle finger when it comes to getting vaccinated and protecting ourselves - and others like her! I'll stop preaching now, but please get vaccinated.

Evie loved driving the Ranger around the farm. Around and around and around the farm! She did fine, but of course she needed some Grandpa coaching before leaving port.

Her Dad, my son Jon, also coached her for awhile. She smiled and let it happen. Annie never lets the Ranger out of her site, so Annie rode every trip with Evie, every trip with Evie, every trip with Evie. Around and around and around the farm. You can't see it in this pic, but Annie has her own rear view mirror she's looking into. She actually uses it! Amazing.

Tell me that ain't cute, and tell me which one in this pic is having more fun.

I'll let this one speak for itself mostly. I've never seen Annie so exhausted in my life. This is Annie after a long fun day Ranger Riding with Evie. She's had a swim in the pond and ready for some restful laying under my bench. I think she might have been hiding - but let that Ranger fire off, and guess where Annie would be!

Inside, Annie was still in love with Evie. Like her Ranger, Annie never let Evie out of her site.

Outside, Miles and I made smoked St. Louis style ribs. I'm explaining the fine points - Miles is just hoping I'll stop talking and get the meat into the smoker! Miles and I wear the same shoe size.

A shared family secret for smoking pork. A shared fun family time smoking pork, too.

Cherry picking season also means Japanese Beetle and other bug problems too. We farm with tractors in the air out here now. I think it would be really fun if they would paint this bright yellow crop duster airplane (piloted by a guy who has an obvious death wish!) with some John Deere green on it somewhere. Wouldn't that be fun to imagine seeing a yellow and green John Deere crop duster tractor-plane in the sky?

Part of my insect control program is in that little nest box down there in the distance. 

I love barn swallows, and I've decided to put little nest boxes around for them. I have a family in the making in this one already.

Another insect control specialist at Oakdale Farm is this little guy. Tree frogs are fun. They change colors depending on their backgrounds. This little guy just about made me wet my pants the other day.

I didn't know he was around when I grabbed my office door knob to go to work. OOOOOH, that squishy cold feeling in my hand was not nice. Fortunately, this guy was not hurt, but I watch for him carefully now.

So here's what it comes down to: The kids are all home safe and dry. I've spent the better part of the last week picking cherries - and cleaning up my messes. O.J. doesn't like heat, and apparently seems to have lost his sense of smell. He spends most evenings with me like this while I watch the news. He doesn't care about the news at all. Full food dish, fresh cool drinks, and a safe warm dry place to nap away the hours and he's good to go. Me too. All is well at Oakdale Farm. Have a safe and happy 4th of July. Don't forget to check on your juicer from time to time.