It's that time of year again! The thermometer cracked 90 degrees, so it must be time to "put up" produce in the kitchen. This time it's cherry jam, using cherries from our own trees.
This blog is not so much about making the jam itself, as that was covered in this popular blog from last year. This one is about growing the cherries to use in the jam. It seems so wholesome, the idea of growing your own fruit. But it's quite an adventure!
On the surface it's simple. We planned for a small orchard in our garden design, and have had a cherry tree there for years. However, it's rare we actually get a cherry crop! The main culprit is raccoons. One year they stripped the tree in one night!
Last year we got a "critter cam" and actually caught him in the act. You can see the "fence" we built around the orchard last year in an attempt to keep him out. Clearly it didn't work! Turns out he can walk from the trellis next to the orchard onto the apple tree and from there, make his way into the cherry tree. He actually broke the fence trying to get OUT of the enclosure.
In prior years, we had tried netting the tree, netting the trunk, netting the bunches of cherries, putting thorny branches around the tree, and putting a stove pipe around the trunk. None of those techniques worked. So this year, I tried the last thing I could think of, a motion-detector sprinkler. Works great!
The day after we installed the sprinkler, we woke up to the noise of birds "tap dancing" on our roof. From about 5:30 on the crows would dance (really, it's more like "lead foot" noises), and "caw". Very disturbing! Well, Rick discovered what was attracting them, they were eating the cherries! He found three of them in the tree, having a good time. So we quickly netted the tree (I had intended to, but hadn't gotten around to it yet). A few days later, they turned their attention to something else (and quit waking us up, whew!).
We turn on the sprinkler each night when we go to bed, and it scares off anything that comes near the tree. Yesterday Rick went to turn it on around 11:30, and he spotted something black and white striped near the hose bib, which is next to the fish pond. Guess our little skunk friend was getting a drink! Since he didn't seem to be going anywhere, Rick didn't end up turning on the sprinkler last night. Luckily the raccoons didn't pick that night to try their luck!
Since our crop was still intact, today I decided to pick cherries and make jam. It's time-consuming but not complicated:
- Sort the cherries: I recently learned that you can ripen cherries off the tree, so I am picking them less judiciously and getting some that are not ripe yet.
I sort these out to let them ripen. I also sorted out the "best of" the ripe ones to eat fresh. Plus while I sorted them I was on the look-out for bugs, when I picked fruit this morning a bunch of earwigs fell on me! Ewww! One more place those earwigs live...grrrr!!!
- After washing the cherries, I pit them using a cherry pitter gifted to me by my brother-in-law Bill years ago. Who knew I would get such use out of it! It's pretty easy to use, but occasionally leaves the pits attached to the cherries, so I have to be on the lookout for that.
- After pitting the cherries, I chop them using my food processor. I have learned this is a reliable way to know if you still have pits, since they make a "ticking" noise against the bowl of the food processor. So I laboriously sort through the chopped cherries looking for pits. Too bad a chopped cherry looks the same color as a pit!
- Then you proceed as normal making jam out of the chopped fruit. A few pits were left so I spotted them while stirring the jam and removed them. I have learned that I can make low-sugar jam easily using the recipe on the bottle of bulk pectin (vs. buying it in boxes). It's so pretty after you add the sugar!
PB&J's anyone???
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