Berries and cherries and more...oh my!

This has been a busy couple of months. Our little strawberry patch was loaded again this year. We picked berries every few days through most of June. I froze lots of them, so we should be well stocked for winter. The tayberries have come on strong too and we have been picking them regularly. They make really good jelly and cobblers. We also froze a few packages for winter. The raspberries and blueberries haven't done so well so we may rethink where we have each of them planted and move them for next year.


This month the cherries have been our focus. We have a couple of cherry trees in our orchard, but they don't have enough fruit for anything other than snacking on. Pete tries to keep ahead of the birds and eats a few cherries every time he passes the trees... most of them before they are completely ripe.
Earlier this week we drove up to Hood River, where the REALLY GOOD cherries grow. Our favorite place to pick is Alice's Orchard. They keep the trees short enough that we can pick them without using ladders. It took only about an hour for us to pick over 30 lbs. After we got home we spent the rest of that day and much of the following day canning them. A little work, but will be well worth it in a few months.