This year was great for pears. We picked a little over 300 lbs in 2 evenings. They have been in the house now for a little over 2 weeks, and have ripened up just perfectly. This year we've decided to dehydrate many of them, as time has been strapped due to some house remodeling, woodcutting, fruit collecting… you can make yourself as busy as you want! Anyhow… Out of the many fruit trees around this old place we bought, there are about 10 pear trees. They are all Bartlet as far as we can tell, however, one tree had possibly a different type of pear that was really small. We did pick around 25 or so pears off of it. Here's a picture: 

Drying the pears is the easiest process for sure. It is actually my favorite because when I get home from work, the entire house smells just wonderful. Dried Pears and Pear butter make excellent gifts too. A good friend of mine sent me some bananas he dried from his farm in Kauai. They were the best dried bananas I have ever had, and I like dried bananas.

Now someone might ask; "what are the essential tools of the pear drying and canning trade?" While some might not ask, I will share with you what is used anyways. (Skip this section if you already know.) You for sure need a dehydrator, we like the Excalibur dehydrator. An apple/pear corer, a couple large pots, big knife, spatula or slickapot, food mill, and loads time. It's worth it though. A lot of the time you can find trees in town that are just dropping fruit everywhere, ask the owners if you can have it, and enjoy some free dried, buttered, sauced, fruit.

Tags: butter, dried, fruit, pear, processing

Our courtyard apple tree has treated us with a plethora of blossoms this year. It is amazing. We have fancied the idea that there are probably more than 100,000 blossoms on it. I’d say that number is maybe half of what there really is. Did you know that October is National Apple Month? When October comes I’ll have to write a tribute post to the apples. Enjoy the photos.

Tags: apple, blossom, california, norther, Spring, tree

The blossoms are starting to really show here, even in the mid-spring cold, rain and snow. From the Apple trees to the mini Grape Hyacinths, the colors are really coming alive. It is hard to imagine that all the little buds that turn into flowers will become fruit. It’s like the flower turns inside out and the fruit gets pulled up from the roots and out the end of the branch. The natural process of things is surely divine. At the center of it all, it looks like nothing, but in essence it is that we cannot see that is. “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.” Psalm 135:7

Tags: blossoms, divine, flowers, grape hyacinths, Spring, tulips

Last year in March we had a warm spell for about 3 weeks. It was so nice. It felt like summer was just around the corner. Our apples, plums, pears, and a few other trees even began to blossom. That changed in April. Winter came again and froze most all blossoms off the trees. It was down to 25 degrees farenheit again in a matter of days.

Spring came again in May, this time sticking around and morphing seamlessly into Summer. The ground had defrosted and the Apples began to really show their color. The Apples, of all our fruit trees, are the hardiest. We had the most magnificent apple harvest from 6 of the 10 apple trees, grossing about 200 pounds of organic apples. Two of the Pear trees even gave us 30 pounds of amazing fruit. Thanks to my wife, we have a winter supply of apple sauce, apple and pear butter, and halved pears.

Waiting for the freeze

This fall we are trying a different approach that we hope will work. We have collected leaves and needles from all over the yard and will use it for mulch around the fruit trees. We don’t have quite enough for all of the trees, so the “weaker” trees are getting it first.

Before we mulch the fruit trees, we are waiting for the ground to freeze well. We will then rake the mulch piles around the trees, leaving a few inches around the actual bark of the tree. We are hoping this will “lock in” the cold frozen ground until it is absolutely summer. From what we have read, you can prolong winter this way and have your perennials begin to grow when frost is no longer as much a threat. In theory this will work for the fruit trees also.

December 2007 Fall Weather

So far we have had 1 good rain. The first few days of December were cloudy, then the other night it rained all night. It was nice to have the rain pounding on the metal roof. You seem to go numb from it and just fall asleep. It’s been freezing the ground fairly deep, however, it’s warmed up again. If the weather folk are correct, I’ll be mulching the trees here by Christmas.

Check back for an update to this post in Spring of 2008.

We were just up in Oregon a couple weeks ago visiting and were given some Giant Sequoia trees. We’ve planted them on the North Western side of our little land here in a spot where there is a lot of room for some giant trees. Reading in the Sunset Western Garden Book I found that these trees can be up to 325′ tall and be “young” at 3000 years old! I won’t live to be that old, unless the Goji Berries kick in overdrive, but look forward to seeing these trees at 50′ tall.

They like the cold, dry air and well drained soils that we have here on the east side. My favorite trees are Cedar trees, or those that look similar, and the Giant Sequoia’s bark resembles one a little. Giant Sequoia National Monument comes to my mind when I think of these trees, so make sure and check out their photo gallery. I’ll keep an update on the trees as they grow to the heavens.

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