Thursday, July 5, 2012

Plums For Kersey

One of our orchard trees is a Santa Rosa plum.  It's my favorite plum; purple-red, sweet and tart, it bursts  into your mouth while juice runs down your chin and through your fingers.  You can't get them in the grocery store - the window to perfect juiciness is very short.  A few years ago, we had a bumper crop and I made plum jam, plum tarts and plum cake.  Not to mention the many that I slurped down, standing in the orchard. 


 The last few summers, we haven't had any plums.  First, the tree lost a couple large limbs.  I pruned it way, way back to strengthen it's core.  While it was recovering from it's severe haircut -- think Rappunzul gets a pixie -- it didn't produce any plums.  This spring I was thrilled to see it set fruit and eagerly waited for July, when the plums ripen.



Kersey was waiting too.  Yesterday, I was coming up from the barn with the dogs and spied a perfectly ripe plum on the grass under the tree.  The first Santa Rosa plum in three years.  My saliva glands kicked into high gear and I headed toward the fruit.  Unfortunately, Kersey saw it too.  She's a bit faster than me and in my walking cast... I didn't stand a chance.  She retrieved it, picking it up gently and carrying it over to me. While I considered whether I wanted it bad enough to wash off the doggy spit, she chomped down and ate it.  In two bites.  Pit and all.  I watched the juice drool out of her mouth and thought murderous thoughts. 



This evening, there was another plum on the ground.  Kersey seems to think they are edible toys.  She plays with them for awhile before eating them.  Or maybe she just does that to torture me.


She picked an unripe one from the tree and expected me to play fetch with her.  Last fall, she robbed the apple trees of "balls" everyday.  She has retained the skill, obviously.


I will be doing an orchard check and slurping plums before I let the dogs out in the future.  I can't let her get to these gems before I do.


At least she washed up before her dinner, rinsing her paws in the wading pool while I fixed up her bowl of food.  I'm surprised she was still hungry.  But then, she is a lab.  Her motto: All food, all the time.




11 comments:

  1. i dislike plums (ate too many as a kid and swore never again) but i LOVE kersey!!! adore her!!!

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  2. Awww, that is so cute. I love that he picks fruit. Our labs pick blackberries, which is very cute to watch, and pick the apples off the ground. They can't reach the fruit on the tree though.
    You're so lucky to have fruit already!

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  3. This plums looks fantanstic!! but your smart Kersey thinks the same.

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  4. OMG that made me laugh. I have the same issue with my dogs picking the raspberries before I get any (yup even the ones not ripe). I'm an evil Mom and they haven't been allowed in the front yard the last few days while I enjoy picking the raspberries on my way by. HAHAHA Those plums look so yummy how lucky you are to have the orchard (in my wildest dreams).

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  5. Great post. If only all dog balls were so pleasingly edible. The plums look amazing. I am thinking jam : )

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  6. ha! he is so cute "washing up" for dinner! Our apple trees grow on a hillside and when an apple drops and start rolling down the puppies thing the tree is playing fetch as they go dashing off after it! :)

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  7. That's a mighty fine looking plum!
    Can't blame Kersey for having good taste.

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  8. My dogs like to eat fruit too. I didn't think that was naturally in their diet although I did have a rotty that loved watermelon.

    Sounds to me like you have a good plan if you ever plan to get to eat those plums again. They sound delicious.

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  9. You can never have enough plums if it is up to me!!! haha

    Big hugs
    Leontien

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  10. He's too cute- you will have to be much faster to get any plums this season!

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Thanks so much for commenting!