Fruit harvest

Alicia arrived on the farm this past Sunday.  Once her feet hit the ground, she set to work.  Monday morning we picked lots of different kinds of fruit.  The rest of the pie cherries, currants, goose berries and raspberries!  We found a home for the three boxes of pie cherries, and the rest of the produce we processed and popped either in to the freezer or in to jam jars!

Raspberries are heavy feeders.  Last fall I put a fairly heavy dose of chicken manure near and around the canes and this summer I have been dumping the water to the plants.

We've had a bountiful harvest as a result!

Our red currant bush always produces much more than we can use.  

This isn't even a heavily loaded branch, compared to some.

This gooseberry variety is sweet enough to eat out of hand.  We froze enough for one pie, gave some away, and the rest we are eating each time we buzz past the bush!

Can you see the sharp thorns on the branches?  Gooseberries make you pay a heavy price for harvest.

Three more boxes of pie cherries.  We cut a deal with Lynnie.....we'll pick if you take them and pit them.  She went for that deal which made all parties involved, very happy!

Finally, this pie cherry tree is picked clean of it's fruit.  

One day this winter, at a Spokane Fly Fishers meeting in Spokane, I met this very nice fellow named Jim.  He learned, through our conversation, that I am a farmer.  He asked if we would mind if he came out during harvest, to shoot some photos of our operation.  I said, "of course, that would be fine".  One day this week, Jim and his friend Gary, came out to scout the territory.  It was a beautiful day, and while they didn't ever intend to shoot harvest (because that's not happening yet!) they did find plenty to engage their cameras!

This is Gary.  He's a retired National Park Ranger, who has taken up photography now that he has time for hobbies.

Baxter always has to get in on the action!

Jim, also retired, is doing his best to perfect the art of photography.  

It was a beautiful day to be out and about.  Everyone was pleased, humans, chickens and dogs!

Harvest is foremost in our minds these days.  We've had a bit of a reprieve due to cooler weather the last two weeks.  We are getting close, very, very close, to being ready to go.  Today, we are expecting to start on Tuesday, July 19th.  That's the plan today.  It could change by tomorrow, or even tonight, but for now, that's the plan!