This year the plum tree in my garden has excelled itself—in comparison with previous years, it has produced more plums than I can use, have inspiration for, or care to deal with.
So far, I have only plucked about a third of the plums from the tree (about 7kg). Seeing the enormity of the process ahead of me, I also googled diverse possibilities of what to do with them. Apart from eating them fresh, I have made: 2 litres of plum vodka, 11 pots of jam, a couple of plum crumbles, some dehydrated plums: prunes and some fruit leather.
I'm pleased with the outcome, but exhausted by two days in the kitchen and daunted by the remaining two thirds, stlll attached to the tree! Then there's the wasps and a couple of Jays, who, although I'm not adverse to sharing, sample several plums each visit and then leave them to rot! All this fruit processing, reminds me of my childhood summers and my mother's jam making.
Luckily... I am able to call on friends, who's stocks of plum jam are dwindling and who are happy to help me pick the rest from the tree. *phew*
As I pick, I weigh, curious as to what the grand total will be, once the tree is bare again.
UPDATE:
As of today (09/08/2016), the tree has been relieved of it's load —20.5 kilos!
Friends have come and gone, taking with them bags filled with plums, destined for jam, cakes and to be eaten fresh. I thought it only fair, to leave about a kilo on the tree for the jays, wasps and any other fruit loving wildlife.
The tree really excelled itself this year —thank you tree!
