A Nice Pear

After my whistle-stop tour of the firm apples and pert plums near my work place, my mind turns to another voluptuous shape – the pendulous pear. I located another tree this week. I don’t think I am going to have too much competition collecting the fruit of this one because you need a boat to reach it (unless you want to wade through the mud at low tide).

These Pears Grow by the River

We know at least four other trees locally, all laden with fat, juicy pears; they won’t be ripe for a couple of months but like a good boy scout, I'm always pre-peared (ho ho).

These Nice Round Pears Came From Pear Tree Green!

It’s quite easy to spot fruit trees when they are heavy with fruit; the branches bend down and droop in a recognisable way. This also helps to make picking the fruit more simple when it ripens. As you remove the fruit though, the branches become lighter and they may spring back up out of reach - so you will need a picking tool. I have a couple of these and a small one for the children. I also made a couple myself (see the Phantom Limb Fruit Picker) and they have proved to be invaluable, especially when it comes to cherries apples and pears, which tend to grow on tall trees.

More Pears Ripening

It never ceases to amaze me that you can find trees full of delicious pears, hanging around on public ground, just waiting to be picked. I think I may try pressing some in my cider press this year, pear juice is lovely and it can be frozen too. Having said this, another good way of preserving the juice would be to make Perry! Last year we made 8 gallons of tasty Cider and I’m starting to think that September/October will be very busy months for us this year.

These Ones Are Delicious - We Had Loads Last Year

Cherry Picking the Best

People always look at me incredulously, when I tell them that we picked 5 Kgs of ripe cherries in St. Deny’s (close to where we live in the heart of Southampton city).

Pick Me, Pick Me...

However, it is true and here is the proof...

Over 5 Kilos of Cherries

We walked round the corner with our pickers and boxes and set siege to a tree we spotted earlier in the week. It only took us about half an hour on this one tree and there are plenty more left where they came from. 

They Look Just About Ready To Me

We probably picked more that 5 Kgs, but rather a lot got consumed (largely by my daughter) before we even got them home and weighed them.

Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff

We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of competition, although having the Phantom Limb and a telescopic picker does give you something of an advantage over any potential opposition.

The Phantom Limb Fruit Picker in Action

My son prefers his cherries dried, which converts them into large raisins as far as he’s concerned. He helped me stone them beforehand, using the very handy cherry pitting tool that we invested in last year.

Chief Cherry Pitter

There is a potential down side to this abundance though... My daughter had tummy ache today, probably from gobbling down too many in one go!

More Than Enough to Go Around

Perhaps it’s time to get baking...

The Phantom Limb Fruit Picker

I have been designing fancy, new fruit pickers for the children, in readiness for the cherry and plum season. The cherries are looking fatter and redder every day, so it won’t be long now. I’m salivating like Pavlov’s dog as I type...

The simplest picker I have made is for blackberries.

Blackberry Picker

It’s just a metre of thin PVC pipe sawn off at an angle at one end and cut back into two prongs. The prongs are then curled back using heat, and set like two crooked fingers. This is great for young kids, to help them reach inaccessible fruit. Attach a bag to the end of the pipe with an elastic band and the fruit rolls down the pipe to fill it up.

If you are feeling ambitious, you can try something a bit more dramatic like this...

The Phantom Limb Cherry/Plum Picker!
Who's shoes are those btw?

I scaled the original idea up to make new a cherry/plum picker. I used a prosthetic hand, which I crafted out of PVC by drawing round my own and cutting it out with a coping saw.

A Flat PVC Hand Shape

Then I moulded it into a functional shape and attached it to a small bore gutter down-pipe. I think the kids will love using this, and the hand came out better than I expected; it is actually quite spooky.

Moulded Over the Gas Hob (when I was foolishly left alone in the house)

Wait until the captain of the galley is out of the way before trying this shipmates!  If you are a child, get a responsible adult (if you know one) to do this next bit for you...

If you carefully heat PVC up, on a gas hob it becomes pliant and can be set in a new position as it cools. You can also use an electric (paint stripping) heat gun for the same purpose, the same warnings apply to either method.



The Finished Phantom Hand, Spooky!

I say carefully - advisedly because...

1.       The PVC gets very hot and you can burn your fingers on it.

2.       If it gets too hot PVC catches fire, melts all over the cooker (and you potentially) and gives off highly toxic smoke and fumes.

So be very careful, and then you can make great stuff out of it.

This Is Real, Not PVC. A lovely Stag Beatle I Found it in the Garden...
Look Out It's Coming Right At You!