Cherry Pickin'

It's been a rough year for cherry farmers in Washington.  Lots of rain, and now hot weather which means lots of damage and splitting.  Much of the fruit is being left on the trees because it isn't worth the cost and effort of picking and then sorting and packing in the warehouses and be shipped to consumers all over the world.

Despite the damage, the crop is a good one from the weather we had earlier this spring, which makes things even more devastating.  Big firm cherries, I don't think I've ever tasted them so good!

Lucky for us, we have access to a prized cherry tree, and I don't really care about a few blemishes and splits...they all taste just the same.

We raced against a big dark rain cloud that was making it's way over us to harvest our small bounty.

Yum! The first stone fruit of the summer...next up are apricots, then peaches & nectarines!  We're so lucky (& spoiled) to have all of this almost outside our back door.