Pears, pears, pears

[Kookaburra]

Whoa baby, do we have pears!!!
After 7 years of nothing, that old pear tree in the back yard surprised us all by being loaded to the point of one branch breaking from the weight of all the pears. I've made pear tartes, pear preserves, cut them up raw in salads, given them to everyone I know, and still we have pears. I'm going to try my hand at pear butter this weekend. We'll see how that goes.
I'm not complaining. I'm grateful to the universe for this bumper crop. It just took everyone by surprise.
Anyone else getting surprised by produce this summer?

[bigmonkey]

1. Tried to grow honeydew melons two years ago.

Got one, and somebody nabbed it before I could pick it! Only funny now. This year, about 10!

[Kookaburra]

4. Never had much luck with melons

I don't think this yard has very good drainage -- melons, cucumbers, squash, etc don't grow very well in my garden at all.

[Sanity Claws]

2. Fruit trees have cycles

I had a plum tree and it had a three year cycle. One year medium harvest; next year not much; the third year, hit the jackpot.

I wonder if yours has a three or four year cycle and its big year may have been affected by bad weather.

[Kookaburra]

5. That makes sense

3 years ago we had a horrible drought, and nobody was allowed to water anything, so that would account for not seeing any fruit, and the years before that we would see a couple of pears, but nothing like this year. Hooray for fruit!!!

[FirstLight]

3. what a wonderful ABUNDANCE image!

congrats & yummmmm

I would love a bumper crop in LIFE to hit me ! :rofl:

If you wanna ship some this way, I'll take 'em off your hands !!!!

[Kookaburra]

6. Yes it is

Happy to send you some. Do pears ship? I don't know much about them -- still in the learning phase.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. Maybe the local food pantry accepts produce?

Different sites deal with produce differently, but it could be a great thing for you to gift people with -- fresh pears! Yay!!!!

:bounce:

[Kookaburra]

8. Excellent idea!!!

I'll give them a call tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.

[FirstLight]

9. that sounds wonderful!

:) :hug: sharing the abundance, lovely :loveya:

[mntleo2]

10. You might also try Gleaners...

They give the opportunity for others who will come and pick your pears. The Gleaners organizations usually cost a little ($10.00 per season) and they go around to the picked fields and orchards and tree like yours. They give !0% of whatever they pick to the food bank and can keep thee rest, but most gleaners will give more. Some orgs even offer canning supplies and classes on what to do with what you glean. The Extension at universities also know of where you can find gleaners. Just google "gleaners" plus your city or town and see where they are. Here is the article I found when I googled "gleaners seattle": http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2003868070_gardenshare05.html

This way none of them will go to waste and you will feed the hungry as well as industrious and low income people who are willing to come and do the work for the fruit or veggies. You don't have to be low income to be a gleaner, but many are.

Hope this helps!

Love,
Cat in Seattle (a low income gleaner who LOVES the stuff she finds every year, who gets the most delicious things that are healthy, usually organic, and cans them as well as makes things like preserves, etc with produce I could never afford otherwise).

[OneGrassRoot]

11. What a great organization!!!

Thanks for that info! :hi:

:hug:

[Kookaburra]

12. Oh, I love this idea

Called the local food pantry, and they said they couldn't take the produce unless I had some sort of license to grow and sell. Not really sure what they were talking about, and to be honest I quit listening after she said she couldn't take stuff from private gardens. Okay then. I'll find our local Gleaners program. We're a pretty big city, so I'm sure we have one.

Thanks for the advice Cat.

[WhiteTara]

13. you can preserve them before they ripen

by wrapping them in paper (tissue is better than newspaper because of the ink) and store them in a cool place. Then in November...Pears! (be sure and don't get anything that has a bruise and check them on occasion)

But what I meant to write about is that pear trees can live up to 300 years!

[rucognizant]

14. Yes

peaches!

[OneGrassRoot]

15. This just came through email....

I haven't read it but, just from the subject line, I thought I should post here! :hi:

http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/fallen-fruit?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=socmed&utm_content=Video_FallenFruit&utm_campaign=100824_Happiness