Plum Time in Orange

We are feeling rather plumtastic at the moment as our plum tree creaks with the weight of hundreds of super juicy plums. This year sees a bumper crop and you really need to eat them outside as the juice squirts everywhere as soon as you take a bite.

The huge amount of rain we received over the weekend has caused some of the fruit to start to split so it is all hands on deck to pick as many plums as possible. As usual it is a battle with the birds who are having a field day in our garden this year.

We actually don't know what to do with all the plums and I am getting pretty fed up picking up the dropped fruit off the ground and composting it all. I could barely drag the compost bin out to the road for collection yesterday, it was so full.

Dog A L'Orange has a really penchant for ripe fruit and trots around the garden eating everything both on the ground and on the tree, frequently giving himself a severe upset stomach in the process. We then have the joys of dealing with his chronic diarrhoea through the night and half eaten plums scattered all over the garden!

There are only so many plums that you can eat and I seem to lack inspiration when it comes to dealing with this overwhelming amount of ripe fruit. I've resorted to driving around Orange dropping off bags of plums to anyone and everyone I know (plus random strangers) as getting anyone to come over and pick wasn't producing results.

I've also organised for a big bag to go to Orange Food Care for their weekly programme, better they go to someone than end up going to waste.

Hope you have all have a fabulous week.

Tis the season to be jolly & eat cherries

You know it is getting close to Christmas in Australia when the big fat deep red cherries appear. Households everyone scramble to get a box at the best price and you see bowls of glorious shiny cherries everywhere you go.

Coming from the UK where a ripe cherry was a rare delicacy, I have to say I love the fact Antipodeans get all the best fruit just before Christmas, all we got growing up were mandarins and nuts!

Living in Orange we are lucky enough to have an abundance of orchards and berry farms, full of fantastic fresh produce ready to be picked. I've been wanting to get into some 'pick your own' action for ages but it has never happened until recently... 

I persuaded Mr L'Orange that picking our own fruit would be fun, we could eat plenty as we picked and we could get a coffee afterwards & perhaps even a wine tasting (a bribe never fails). 

The sexy cherry picking 'look'

We turned up at Cargo Road Wines nice and early (well, 10.30am is pretty good for us!) as the weather has been really hot here recently and who wants to be up a tree in the blazing midday sun? James Sweetapple, the owner gave us a brief overview on how to pick cherries and the best ones to go for. They even provide handy ladders for those hard to reach, super big cherries.

A cherried up James Sweetapple

To my surprise it is very easy to pick cherries and didn't take long to get a kilo of premium grade  cherries for $8 a kilo which is outstanding value. The cherries are really good this year, so load up while there are still plenty to choose from.

The whole experience was totally idyllic as families picked cherries together, a pet lamb wandered around, the friendly winery dog kept an eye on everyone and we ate cherries until we felt a bit ill. Then it was time for a coffee and relax on the verandah which has amazing views over the region before a wine tasting and home. 

Busy picking cherries

What a Sunday morning, I highly recommend it to everyone wanting to escape the Christmas frenzy and do something relaxing instead. Who is keen for this Sunday?