plums. plums. plums.
I have been harvesting, canning, and baking plums for well over a week now and today I finished using the last of them. We have an epic golden plum tree in the backyard, and I did my best to make use of the bounty. There are still some way out of reach plums on the tree, but overall, I think I did a good job. I had some help from a few friends who came by and took some off of my hands, but I probably handled a few hundred on my own easily. I made: 22 half-pint jars of jam, 3 pints of chutney, 6 quarts of plums in syrup to be used in pies/crisps/cobblers, 1 pint of plum syrup for fancy drinks, 2 batches of plum drinking vinegar, 4 half-pints of plum butter, one crisp, and two cakes. Needless to say, I don’t need or want to do anything with plums for awhile.
However, I will say that every single day of working to preserve all of this fruit has been so incredibly joyful, in my body, and rewarding. I’m looking forward to sharing all that I made with my friends and family in the coming months. As well as looking forward to plums throughout the winter!
I have decided that one of my absolute favorite sounds, top 5 for sure, is the sound of the jar lid popping, indicating you have a good seal. Best.
first batch of plum jam. a combo of golden plums from the tree and black plums from the store.
cake #1. recipe here.
I took the cake to a picnic! it was a hit.
cake #2 before baking. recipe here.
And up next: figs! My neighbor has 3 huge fig trees loaded with fruit, and we’ve worked out a deal where I can go pick as many as I’d like in exchange for some of whatever I make. I’m so excited, as figs are one of my favorites, and I’ve never before had access to them fresh like we can get here.
Radical Self-Love 