Last month we were overjoyed to discover the cherry tree was producing a wonderful crop.
I froze a bunch of quart sized bags, tried Fresh Cherry Pie, my new favorite Cherry Pudding Cake and a not so favorite clafouti. We had so many cherries I went out and got a Cherry Pitter which really helped speed up the pitting process. Grandson Luke was excited about tasting Cherry Pie so I promised him a Fresh Cherry Pie. My sweetheart and I headed to Idaho for a few days with a housewarming gift of the promised Fresh Cherry Pie. It was a delight to see how excited he was that it was there in the their new home.
I also enjoyed a break here and there watching a few youtube videos that showed some very creative ways to pit cherries!
I started out tackling July's harvest.by throwing together a quick batch of Apricot syrup for my sweet grandnephews who came to visit. It was a simple mash of a few cups of apricots and a bit of sugar cooked in a pot on the stove long enough to bring out all the juices. We all enjoyed it sooo much! It was Yum...These past couple of weeks have been crazy busy with apricots ripening and dropping faster than my sweetheart can keep up with them... I decided we better pull out some recipe ideas... Apricot Leather, pie, Apricot Pudding Cake... The first batch of leather was amazing.The boys liked it so much they took home all but a few strips :) Next I grabbed my Apricot Jam recipe and got busy. Before too long those apricots were ripening FAST so I began freezing quart bags in between jam batches and a few random desserts. As the apricots increased ripening and dropping at the beginning of August I was trying the various recipes to use as much as I could of my yummy apricots.
I also called in the troops- my friend Maieli and her granddaughter Amber came to pick some apricots and we decided to turn them in to jam here at the Ferrier Chalet.
Sweetheart Tom and I continued to work on the apricots since what I have learned from past years was that next year we may have a zero harvest so enjoy it now. 
So what is next? Apples, and did I mention the plums?
Well it looks like it is time to jump back in with both feet...As the weeks have progressed, the apricot trees have thinned out but a quick look at our property and I note it is time to get set to tackle plums, tomatoes, apples, herbs, and maybe some neighboring peaches too.
