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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Well, I feel stupid I've been growing pears for about ten years, and attributed my general dissatisfaction with them to the fact that these are Kieffer pears, a cooking, rather than an eating variety. I would wait and wait for them to ripen, and find them the same hard gritty irregular green baseballs right up to the day when the wind finally blew the last one off the tree. So this year I decided to be more scientific about the whole process. In other words, I looked on the net to find out what criteria I should be using for when cooking pears are ripe. What I found out is that I shouldn't have been leaving them on the tree. All pears, I learned, should be picked while still green and allowed to ripen somewhere else. So today I picked pears. So far I have picked four clothes hampers full of pears, about 120 pounds. Those are just the ones I could easily reach without using the basket-on-a-pole that I bought earlier this year for just this purpose. There are still several times that many on the tree. We had an enormous fruit yield this year. Not just the pears, but the apples--the Golden Delicious is so laden that some of its branches are hanging down on the ground, and the Red Delicious, which we pruned severely last year, is bearing almost as heavily. But the pear tree outdid them all, and since neither deer, nor birds, nor Japanese beetles bothered it, I've got pears covering every flat surface in the trailer. There are pears on the kitchen table, pears in boxes all around my bed, pears on the copier, pears on the piano, pears on the living room chairs, pears on the shelves over the washing machine, pears on the bookshelves. Pears around the edges of the washing machine, for pete's sake.Thank God I can just pick the apples and process them right away, because I don't know where I would put them. They are fairly small, and mostly all bird-pecked, but crisp and wonderfully sweet. I put one on Clarence's lunch tray and he was amazed that it had come from our own trees.Now I must go get the rest of them before the skies open. For days, it has rained all around us. Today, since I'm working outside, it appears that it's going to rain here. And now, of course, since I have hundreds of pounds of fruit to process, I expect the government will begin to rain work down upon me as well. posted by Liz @ 1:02 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I've been growing pears for about ten years, and attributed my general dissatisfaction with them to the fact that these are Kieffer pears, a cooking, rather than an eating variety. I would wait and wait for them to ripen, and find them the same hard gritty irregular green baseballs right up to the day when the wind finally blew the last one off the tree. So this year I decided to be more scientific about the whole process. In other words, I looked on the net to find out what criteria I should be using for when cooking pears are ripe. What I found out is that I shouldn't have been leaving them on the tree. All pears, I learned, should be picked while still green and allowed to ripen somewhere else. So today I picked pears. So far I have picked four clothes hampers full of pears, about 120 pounds. Those are just the ones I could easily reach without using the basket-on-a-pole that I bought earlier this year for just this purpose. There are still several times that many on the tree. We had an enormous fruit yield this year. Not just the pears, but the apples--the Golden Delicious is so laden that some of its branches are hanging down on the ground, and the Red Delicious, which we pruned severely last year, is bearing almost as heavily. But the pear tree outdid them all, and since neither deer, nor birds, nor Japanese beetles bothered it, I've got pears covering every flat surface in the trailer. There are pears on the kitchen table, pears in boxes all around my bed, pears on the copier, pears on the piano, pears on the living room chairs, pears on the shelves over the washing machine, pears on the bookshelves. Pears around the edges of the washing machine, for pete's sake.Thank God I can just pick the apples and process them right away, because I don't know where I would put them. They are fairly small, and mostly all bird-pecked, but crisp and wonderfully sweet. I put one on Clarence's lunch tray and he was amazed that it had come from our own trees.Now I must go get the rest of them before the skies open. For days, it has rained all around us. Today, since I'm working outside, it appears that it's going to rain here. And now, of course, since I have hundreds of pounds of fruit to process, I expect the government will begin to rain work down upon me as well.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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