OK, maybe we were only a couple of miles outside of town, but out there it seems like wilderness - and it's about the closest that we get out here.
We went on a sand plum picking mission, and saw a few things along the way.
There was a herd of cranky cows that weren't super happy about our presence on their turf.
The bull did not take his eyes off of me the entire time we were near them.
Spotted a really cool dragonfly, but couldn't get the amazing shade of blue on its wings to come through.
All 5 kids got in on the picking, to start....
Lightning casualty?
We found a random catctus patch...
...and another one. Not sure what the deal is here - I've never seen them just growing out here, and didn't think that they did.
The kids thought that it was cool that I let them ride like this as I moved the van from one plum thicket to another.
I wasn't extremely happy when this guy jumped into the window and landed on my shoulder though.
There's an old Chevy sitting out there...
...I have no idea what year it is.
The interior needs a little bit of work.
Maybe it's Mater's cousin?
For being a Chevy, it's pretty cool looking.
Heading in to get more...
The long sleeves and long pants were definitely a necessity.
For 2 hours' worth of work, we didn't end up with much.
So yeah, the drought has definitely affected production, which I feared. But there are more on the bushes that are not ripe yet, so we'll go back in a week or 2 and see how many more we can get. If I can't get enough to do anything with this year, I'll freeze the juice and add it to next year's haul - assuming that there is one.
If anyone local knows where I can find any more, let me know - I'm willing to split the harvest if we can get some more!
So where do you guys pick at (out of curiosity)?
ReplyDeleteAdrian, if I told you, then I'd have to kill you! It's your typical out-of-the-way super-secret sand plum patch - and I've seriously been told that I can't disclose the location. ;)
ReplyDeleteOK SO TELL ME. I NEVER HEARD OR SEEN A PLUM LIKE THEM. ARE THEY REAL SWEET?
ReplyDeleteI 'D LOVE THAT CAR. WHY WOULD ANYONE JUST LEAVE A CAR LIKE THAT OUT TO ROT. SUCH A LOST.
GRANNY
Granny, if you just eat them off of the bush, they're pretty bitter/sour. But the jelly is really good. It's sweet but has a bit of tartness to it, if that makes any sense at all. And it comes out a beautiful dark pink color! I had to google sand plums to find out the story on them - turns out they only grown in Kansas and maybe Nebraska - I don't remember exactly. But they are hard to find and they are highly coveted amongst canners! ;)
ReplyDeleteI found out that the car is a 1947. It actually belonged to a friend of mine - she and her husband bought it from her husband's grandfather for $50 in 1962 and they used it to bring their second daughter home from the hospital! I'm not sure why they parked it there - maybe it just finally died. I would love to see it fixed up, but I think that it might be beyond repair at this point.
I love the car and the old tree. Very cool shot!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Every now and then I get some pretty neat shots with my little point & shoot!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually in the process of uploading over 300 pictures to flickr - I finally broke down and set up an account. People on facebook are tired of seeing hundreds of pictures, and I can't blog about all of them! ;) We went to 2 parades and an air show this morning, so there are some pretty cool ones coming.