It's Raining Cherries!

I am so so lucky to live in Idaho.  (I never in a million years would have thought that statement would have come out of my mouth but it just did.)  When my parents moved to St. Croix in the USVI my Dad told me that in his mind he was going to give it 5 years.  If after that they didn't like it they would move.  At 5 years he liked it and didn't hate it so they decided to give it 5 more years.  After those 10 years he said he was stuck.  He loved it so much he never wanted to move away.  When Patrick and I moved to Idaho he gave me that advice, give it 5 years.  Well we are now on 6 and I would have to say that at year 5 something magical happened.  I realized that I had made friends, discovered places that I love to eat and frequent, we had two children that have friends, well the older one does at least, and I have decided I really like Idaho.  :/  (Still can't believe that is coming out of my mouth!  I'm freaking out a bit as I write this, really!)  Anyways aside from the freak out going on right now, I do, I really like it here.  Part of this is because I've moved to Eagle and into an awesome neighborhood.  We always lived in West Boise.  I liked it okay.  Actually I was pretty miserable.  I was begging Patrick to let us move, hoping he would want to move to an island that has a lot of mosquitos that leave me alone and bite the hell out of him.  At one point he was seriously considering it.  He even interviewed at some jobs and was offered one.  But life changed in a big way and we decided to stay put.  We moved to Eagle and magic happened.  I love it here.  A simple change in scenery and I was hooked.  Eagle is close enough to downtown Boise but far enough away to feel more country.  The downtown is quaint and the library only 10 minutes away by bike.  The neighborhood has lakes and ducks and geese, there is even a resident beaver that they are trying to get rid of but we've been lucky enough to spot it.  London can fish in the lakes, catch and release and we can bike to our hearts content, which is never enough for Lucca.  Even better is that Emmett, Idaho is only 25 minutes away.  What is in Emmett you may ask?  Orchards of course!

Tyler's Rocky Point Orchard in Emmett Idaho
Cherries, Apricots, Apples and Plums
(We will be going back for Apricots.)

Cherries are in season.  In fact the orchard just opened on Wednesday for u-pick cherries.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pay $1.05 per pound for cherries.  (At the store they range from $2.98 - $4.98 per pound.  I know because I bought some two weeks ago and almost fell to the floor when I saw the total.)  So I got London super excited and used the opportunity to re-teach pollination to her.  This helps her to also understand why we should be kind to bees seeing that they help our garden grow.  (Wasps are another story.)  Off we went, leaving the house at 9:30 am to beat the heat and pick some cherries!

A few hours and a picnic later, we were done.  We took our time, Lucca strapped to my back made the picking slow and we both had to stick to the lower branches which was actually just fine for us.  As is the case with most children, London ate more that she picked, well maybe it was a draw.  Either way she had a blast, I had a blast and Lucca enjoyed my back.  No he liked it.   We played peek a boo and stuff like that.

The Cherries were pulling the branches down so far that some were touching the ground.  Easy picking for a 5 year old.

London picking, she either put it in the cup "for Daddy" or ate it.  Not sure which but both are probable.

Trying to get a portrait of Lucca on my back by myself is hard.  London was too busy eating, I mean picking, to help.  (Where did her helping spirit go?!)

At this moment in my extra fridge in the garage, which we were just about to unplug since we've gone through all our organic beef, is twelve, 12!, pounds of cherries.  I guess we picked enough.  I'm not sure yet if we picked enough but I will soon find out.  Tomorrow I am going to buy a cherry pitter and get to work.  What is in the works?  Well you will have to tune in to find out.  I promise I will post more.  I have some things planned and guess what they involve?  You guessed it!  Cherries!!

The cherries in my fridge right now.  (Or course this is not all 12 pounds but a close up so you could be jealous of me being able to grab a handful and eat them if I wanted to, which I do and will when I am done with this blog.  Now.)

Namaste!