We live in a very fruity area. Wild blackberries and wild plums are the most common, not to mention elderberries and rose hips.
Last week we all walked up a steep road near us (for the cardio benefits, don'cha know) and – with summer full upon us – we were noting the sheer quantity of fruit visible on the side of the road.
Blackberry is abundant.
A close second is wild plums. When ripe, these fruits rarely exceed the size of a cherry, but they're absolutely delicious.
We also have a huge number of wild apple trees in the area.
But on this particular stretch of road, what amazed us was a wild pear!
It has beautiful immature fruit on it.
Older Daughter scrambled down the steep embankment and plucked one. Sure looks like a pear.
I don't know why this tree amazes me, but it does. Did it grow from someone's discarded pear core? Who can say? It's just another repertoire of the sheer quantity of wild fruit we have around here.
Be very careful. We have wild blackberries, huckleberrries , plums, persimmons, and surely more. Snakes love them too. Or maybe they love the small wildlife that love them. Rattlesnakes love to camp out in blackberry thickets especially, and a lot of people have gotten bit. And died.
ReplyDeleteA friend was picking his blueberry bushes and was bit, but was fortunate his wife was able to get him to a hospital in time.
Maybe ya'll don't have so many bad snakes like the south does .But with the temperature swings lately it would be prudent to exercise extreme caution.
That little pear looks delicious.
The last fruit looked like a fig, but not the leaves. But, what do I know?
ReplyDeleteI love plum jam. Are these fruits you can pick? I always found plums along the roadway, but did not pick them because I could not climb down in the ditch and up the side of the road.
Those look more like figs to me. They're the right color, size, and shape. I've never seen a pear that color -- but that doesn't mean there aren't pears like that, of course. Just that I don't know about them.
ReplyDeleteWrong leaves for figs, plus fig trees require warmer climates and can't handle our cold winters. But I agree, the fruit almost does look fig-like.
Delete- Patrice
Future jams/preserves? They all look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWild plums make excellent jelly, as do wild blackberries. And muscatines my favorite. Jams and jellies turn into scrumptious hand pies, fried up in a skillet.
ReplyDeletePoor folks in the hills used to relocate wild fruits to around their house to make for easy picking when they bore. I tried this but have had little success. You probably need more understanding of transplanting first, and doing it at the right time is probably key.
Happy foraging !
OFF TOPIC! I hate to ask a question off topic, but I recently got 5 hens that lay a lot of eggs. No rooster. How old is too old for eggs? I have been sharing them at the bounty table at church. I have a dozen that are almost a month old. Are they safe to share? At what point should I just toss them?
ReplyDeleteEasy-peasey answer: Do the float test. Fill a bowl with cool water and place an egg in it. If it sinks, it's fine. If it stands upright, it's so-so. If it floats, it's bad.
Delete- Patrice
The wild plums are very likely called "damson", which was a popular hedgerow fruit in Jane Austen's era in England. They were brought over from Europe and spread prolifically across the new continent. They grow wild in much of North America, including Idaho.
ReplyDelete