Our Sunday

We had a fairly leisurely day at home today, starting with breakfast on the verandah.  I was sitting on the steps when I noticed this fellow sitting quietly on the railing. 

He was a good three inches long and I’ve no idea what he is.  I’ve never seen one before.  He quite happily let us take his photo.  I just wish my little camera would have let me zoom in a bit closer.  The detail on his antennae and wings was amazing.

Before it got too hot we decided to pick our plums from the Angeline Burdette tree.  They are a lovely plum to use and this year the tree was loaded.

We only have nine trees in our little orchard.  The other trees we have are an apple  that isn’t quite ripe, a pear tree with a few pears for the first time, a nashi, another plum that will not be ripe for about a month, a nectarine with a few nectarines for the first time, a quince that won’t be ripe for a while, an apricot which has never fruited as the blossoms are always frosted and our cherry died due to too much water.  A lot of runoff from the hill behind us ran straight through the orchard.  We also have a fig tree in the yard and, fingers crossed, we will actually get some figs.  Yummo.

I describe our orchard as being “organic”.  In other words, it is totally neglected.  The trees are seriously in need of a prune. A job for the winter.  I cringed when Uncle Chris checked them out at Christmas, he being a orchardist and all, but he said it doesn’t matter as they have a terrific crop.  I think he was being very charitable.

The chooks do love hiding in under the trees in the shade, as does Joey the cat.  I suppose the chooks are creating organic fertilizer. Their shed opens into the orchard, so they have a nice area to roam in, but are still contained.

The crop was so heavy that the plums were hanging in bunches like grapes.

Next it was jam making.  This is a family affair with Mick and I both getting involved.

And, the result, 17 jars of lovely rich coloured plum jam.  I can’t wait to try some on my toast in the morning.

There are still bags left over. I didn’t have enough sugar to do anything else today, but will make some sauce and probably stew and freeze some for later.