Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Plums 'n Poo

Wild plums grow all over the place here. They are orange when ripe, not purple like some, and they are native, which is really cool. And they grow WELL. There are always buckets and buckets worth, and for the most part they go unharvested. Blackberries seem to have no problem being wiped out by hungry critters and people, but not the plums. I guess I'd rather have blackberries, too.

Still, though, I can't stand food going to waste. I can't imagine in poorer parts of the world people would EVER leave food to rot on the branch. I am thankful almost every single day for the grocery store, that I can go in and buy myself pretty much anything I can dream up to eat. Yeah, I hate my job, and yeah, this country could use some work, but I'm still thankful. That's not an oxmoron, is it?
Well, every year I see these plethiferous plums, and I try to think of what to do to stop the waste. I brought home a 5 gallon bucket full once, but there's only so much you can eat. Is there plum jam? I could try to make that, but again, how much can you eat? I don't want any of the supply in a 5 mile radius to go to waste, and that's unfortunatly not possible. Each tree could fill more than a 50 gallon drum, easy. There are more plums than LEAVES. So some of the things I thought of were:

Prunes. Another longer lasting storage?
Food drive. There's a church in town that has an ongoing food drive... but then I'd need a LOT of containers. Could I just draw a map to all the laden trees and photocopy it? Heh heh.
Wine. I have a great recipe for plum wine, and I'd LOVE to try it, but again, I'd need the containers/ equipment. Wouldn't be as much problem of "how much can you consume" though. Wink wink.
Or, do nothing! Haha, the lazy woman's way out! No, I did that LAST year. Why couldn't it be apples? I could make applesauce.
Plums just aren't my favorite fruit. Still, any fruit is Nature's Candy, and this candy is free by the truckload. This may take some more contemplation. Or an investment in some large glass jugs and hoses...

And look! The gremlin has been unmasked! I'm just kidding, our friend brought this guy over to meet our cats. That sounds mean, but it turns out ferrets are more like a catdog than a rodent type of creature. I had never met one, but I've had pet rats, mice, and hamsters over the years and thought ferrets would be in the same genre. Turns out I was mistaken. This guy, Skeebo, chases bits of string just like a kitten, and digs in the dirt like a dog. He's very friendly, and wanted to play with my cats...

This is Pheonix backing away from Skeebo. Ferrets are fascinating and demand unwavering attention and intense scrutiny, but from a distance. And then you can go sniff where he's been, when he is safely far away.
Or even better, you can sniff the ferret POO and then run tearing around and around the yard like Lilly did. If you're a cat, I mean. Ferret poo is even better than tuna and catnip and dead blue jay all rolled up into one lil brown log. Just keep the poo creator the hell away from me!!!! (the kitties unanimously voted)
Haven't actually had the midnight visitor again. Skeebo, though, is welcome anytime.

P.S. So sorry about the title, I just can't help my inevitable humorous reaction to certain refrences. It even fits with the question of how much is too much. In The Grapes of Wrath the kids learned real quick not to eat peach after peach. Okay, stopping now!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hiya kido,

i think yo oughta go fer the plum wine, yup yup yup....

too funny about the ferrit poop! i love it!

mums