And so it is a wonder that this year is the first time that I have spent any time in a cherry grove. (Is that what they are called?)
Last Sunday, two ideas blended into one. One was about being on vacation in my own backyard. The second was going to the cherries. My destination - Creston. I called ahead to 3 orchards to find the cherries with the least amount of spray. But first, I had two ideas - visiting my nephew Josh which is always a delight and the second was to get some of that homemade caramel.
After talking to several people, I found Josh in the lumber yard. Success! But the second errand was a bust because it seems the tourists had found the caramel before me. But I saw a sign. U-pick cherries. Since I had an hour and a half to hang out in Creston before Josh was released from work, I decided that it was time to do my one-new-thing-a-day.
Me hanging out with cherries. They are definitely in their prime, as you can see....
They are in grand abundance. Though I could have picked my minimum of 5 pounds by standing still, I wandered back and forth down my lane, camera in hand, and chatting with a couple from Alberta who were planning on picking 50 pounds. And then I looked up...
When I went inside, I had picked 8 pounds of cherries. Here is my day's harvest...
Then I was off to pick up the cherries from Margo's Farm - here I met Margo and Dorothy who had lots of ideas of what to do with the bounty. I bought 10 pounds, four of these were for people back home, and the second 6 for me. On the drive back, I did some quick arithmetic and realized I had 14 pounds of cherries. For one person. For one person who is leaving town in 6 days. One person who has already stacked a lot of to-dos in that time. And has no freezer space.
I gotta go and have a snack.
