Wild Plums!

[baymule]

People have no idea what REAL food tastes like. They are conditioned to food that looks like magazine pictures. The wild plums we picked were tiny little things, real tart, but the jelly is fabulous. My husband was afraid other people would pick them, I laughed and told him other people don't want to feed themselves, they just want to go to the store and put their food on a government issued "free food" card. Our "free food" involved work picking it, work cooking it and work making the jelly and canning it. Makes me glad that other people are ignorant lazy asses so we could have all the wild plums.

 

[Britesea]

Children are often more willing to pick for themselves. For years I lived in a house that had a loquat growing in the front yard; but we never got to taste them because the fruit was always stolen by children on their way to and from school. I thought it was birds until I saw them one day when I was sick and didn't go to work. I decided it wasn't worth getting worked up about so I let them continue. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I didn't see how I could make the prohibition stick when I was at work and the "tradition" was of such long standing.

By the way, I read that one of the tests to see if a new hybrid of cantaloupe was suitable for commercial farmers was to fire them out of a cannon (low powered, but still) at a wall. The ones that didn't go splat were the varieties they wanted because they would hold up to long transportation times and lots of handling. Nothing about flavor.

 

[freemotion]

People have no idea what REAL food tastes like. They are conditioned to food that looks like magazine pictures. The wild plums we picked were tiny little things, real tart, but the jelly is fabulous. My husband was afraid other people would pick them, I laughed and told him other people don't want to feed themselves, they just want to go to the store and put their food on a government issued "free food" card. Our "free food" involved work picking it, work cooking it and work making the jelly and canning it. Makes me glad that other people are ignorant lazy asses so we could have all the wild plums.

I discovered Autumnberries three years ago and found a sizable patch on a local bike path. I regularly picked 4 gallons in about an hour and a half and one day counted how many people passed me without any apparent curiosity as to what I was doing. 100 people passed, one couple stopped. They were obviously immigrants, and asked many questions about the berries and what I was going to make with them and where else they might find them. I told them to come pick here, this was not MY patch and there were enough for all. They gave me that look that said, no, of course we cannot pick here after you so generously gave us all the info. I insisted. I never saw evidence that anyone else picked there in the 4-6 week season.

I did here several people ask their walking/biking partner what I was picking. The answers were quickly made up to impress the asker and were ALWAYS wrong.

One more guy stopped to tease me that they were poison so I asked how many gallons I'd need to eat before I dropped dead. He was a retired forest service guy and said he'd been given a handful of these along with other fruit-bearing, wildlife supporting plants to randomly plant in the wilds. We had a few good laughs before he bicycled away.

I've yet to meet anyone who also picks these delicious and ubiquitous berries, same with elderberries. Both grow like weeds here. Except in last year's drought, the crops are always prolific, especially the elderberries, which bloom in warmer weather when the bees have their numbers up and are foraging well.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's fantastic! Wish we had some trees around here! I planted a plum tree a few years ago and it didn't make it - but I've got a couple of suspicious trees that have sprouted in that area that I'm wondering about.... If you pick again, would it be too much trouble to snap a pic of the tree/leaves?

Enjoy all that good free stuff!

 

[Mini Horses]

My plum tree bloomed in FEB when we had an unusual hot week, then all bloom killed with freeze following week. No plums this year -- 2nd yr in row with similar conditions!

We are lucky to find a wild persimmon around here. Interntional Paper owns thousands of acres -- pine. Harvested and replanted.

 

[baymule]

@Mini Horses these wild plums seem to never be fooled. They are a every other year producer, probably because they receive no care. We had several late frosts this year, yet they are producing like mad.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

My plum tree bloomed in FEB when we had an unusual hot week, then all bloom killed with freeze following week.

UGH!

 

[Britesea]

no plums for us either, this year On the other hand, it looks like a bumper crop of apples, so I need to get them sprayed soon or I will lose the whole crop to codling moths. I put down a bunch of beneficial nematodes this year, so I hope they will help too.

 

[Mini Horses]

When do you spray the apples? I have always used the (?) oil-soap (?) don't have it in front of me but, organic. What do you use?

So my plum tree gets almost the same as wild -- little care, LOL -- but, it is a domestic variety. That makes it "think" it needs an assist. Silly tree! My goats -- who occasionally get to roam the yard -- have taken the liberty to trim it neatly for me. Yep it is nicely even to the height they can reach standing on hind legs -- as are MOST trees along all the fence lines.
This is why the new apple trees will require their own fenced area.....or will be dead within about one visit from them.

Those wild trees my grandma used to have did well without any care. Sure some had spots, etc. but, overall on their own.

 

[Mini Horses]

It's a lovely color. I used to make a lot of concord grape jelly and strawberry preserves. While I eat little of it, my DH loved it and his grandkids didn't even know it wasn't Welch's. We had an old grape arbor at our farm & I picked strawberries at a local grower. Lovely results!

I used to love Damson Plum jelly. A friend had a tree. Different taste & quite nice. Enjoy the free fruit!!