Every gardener knows the joy of harvesting the fruits of your labor, and today was a great harvest day at 5R Farm. It’s a good thing too, because the raspberries that started out so promising this spring withered mysteriously before any berries ripened, and the blueberries that were once heavily laden with fruit were picked clean by the birds. It was quite a relief that the fruit trees did well this year and were ready for harvest. There is a row of young fruit trees on the farm that was already here when we bought it. Today I picked golden plums, apples, and pears. Last year’s harvest consisted of mostly apples and a few pears, so we were pleasantly surprised this year to discover that the one tree that did not bear fruit last year had a bumper crop of golden plums. It was time to get out the handy fruit tree picker that Sean made me last year (out of an old broom handle and a two liter bottte!) and get to work. The golden plums are absolutely delicious, and I’ve already made two plum tarts this week to rave reviews. The rest of the plums have been stowed in the freezer for tart making this winter. The apple trees did well, and I’ll likely be making applesauce again this year since it turned out great last year. The pear tree gave us 8 small pears this year which is a few more than last year. We planted a second pear tree last fall, so hopefully in a few years we will have more pears, although I have read that pear trees are notoriously slow to bear fruit so it may be a long wait. I also picked several pints of blackberries, and today was one of the only days of the year that I don’t mind having blackberries running rampant on the farm!
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