Apricots and Cherries

This year we had an early spring...and then it turned back to winter. If you follow the trees you will know that this is murder on those early apricot blossoms that we fondly call popcorn trees. I didn't normally spend much of my time or brain mattern (or emotional distress) on this matter untill I discoverd that I don't like sulphured dried apricots. I love the tangy chewy goodness of sunbaked apricots. Wow. Back to the facts of life this year, all of the apricot babies were killed by the early spring and late frost. Argh.

Trees take ques from the light and from the heat. When the days start to get longer the trees thing it is safe to send out it's blossoms and get a jump on the pollinators. It is a strategy that works well for the apricot to be the first one out in the spring most of the time...my mom says half of the time but I haven't taken data on that yet. I imagine it is maybe a little more often. So the sum of it is the apricots are gone and I have to come to terms with this fact.

But....maybe there is still hope. My neighbor has a tree that last year became ripe in Aug!! This is a full month later than most apricot trees. I rallied my courage and called her yesterday to ask if she had any apricots. She hadn't really noticed......it is in her back yard. I tried to hide my anxiousness and said that if she happened to notice too many apricots I'd love to come pick them before they fell on her yard and made a big mess. Am I strange?

But on the other hand it's a bumper crop for the cherries and Kuchar, our cherry source has to gallantly sprayed all the flies away all season. What a chore and a labor or love!! Now the cherries are copious and worm free this year...although this didn't stop us before, a little more protien right? We just couln't bottle them....something about floating worms makes cherry pie and cherry waffle topping a little less appetizing...but you sure can't see the worms in frozen cherries that are blended up in smoothies!! Who needs protien powder?