Picking Plums

Growing up on a farm in Niagara on the Lake, harvest time was always amazing. I still practice a lot of those traditional ways my grandmother past down. Back then it was just the way of life. We had cows, pigs, chickens and goats to supply our meat, eggs and milk. Our garden was huge. During canning season tomato sauce, pickles, relish, peaches, plums and more were preserved to get us through winter. In order to get a job that was in walking distance, the neighbour’s farm was great for picking fruit. This is where my experience came from for picking plums. But as I recall, it took a lot of plums to fill an 11 quart basket. We didn’t make much money and I am surprised the neighbours had as much patience with our slowness as they did.

When I first seen the plum tree wood it was pretty amazing. The heartwood can exhibit an abundance of colour. Typically auburn with streaks of orange, purple, red and pink and yellow. Because of the small size of a plum tree, swirled or irregular grain, as well as knots and other defects are common.

So I can say for sure that the appreciation of the wood far out weighs picking plums.

Niagara Farm Girl