Cherry Pickin' Time in Southern Indiana

Beautiful sour cherries.

I made CHERRY PIE.

Our friends Mark and Shannon Saltzman and their boy Carson of Wadesville, Indiana were so generous to invite us to pick cherries yesterday.  We were blessed with a perfect day!  Sunny and breezy warm but not hot!  We left home at  7:45 AM or thereabouts and gassed up the Chevy, stopped at the McDonald's drive through for coffee and McMuffins and were off to the far west side, baskets in tow.

Mark picks from his ladder.

Their two trees were loaded even though several gallons had already been picked.  Mark climbed his ladder and picked too as he has cherry wine to make and promised to let us try it too!

After picking 15 pounds of cherries you could not tell we had taken any.

There were so many cherries that neither Brian and I used our ladder for they practically fell into our baskets.  The most toil was to hold the baskets!  No bugs either. There was enough breeze to keep them away.  I saw one fly the whole time we were there which was until 10:30AM.

On our way home Brian promised he would never sit under the cherry tree with anyone else but me.

Brian and I kept and even pace and both filled 5 pound boxes then shared a large light weight aluminum pan I use to boil corn in.

Saving those fruit baskets comes in handy!

Mark urged us to wash the cherries well as he had sprayed his trees.  He went on to tell us that the birds would soon find them and strip them in a matter of hours!  Carson has a tournament so we all departed and a lovely morning was had by all indeed!

Once home I used all of my colanders in my sinks to thoroughly wash and drain the cherries.  I rinsed, shook, and drained them all a half dozen times to be sure they were clean.  Next I pitted them into a one quart measuring cup then emptied them into one quart freezer bags topping them with a good shake of salt and a half cup of sugar.  My yield was 7 quarts of beautiful pie cherries.

And guess what we are having for dessert for Sunday Dinner?  Fresh cherry pie!   IF YOU WOULD LIKE MY RECIPE FOR FRESH CHERRY PIE JUST CLICK ONTO THE FOLLOWING LINK.       thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2010/07/cherry-pie.html

ENJOY.