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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

cherry, cherry

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The light red ones are tart and mouthwatering with sugar in pie. The dark ones are sweet - a delectable snack. A lock box waits for payment in the honor system. We drove up North for the day Sunday, looking for good things.




















Michigan produces 80% of the world's tart cherries. That little finger (Mission Peninsula) in the yellow circle is where we spent the day Sunday after a three hour drive north from the farm.











67 comments:

Susan said...

I love taking drives like this on a lazy summer day. I'm glad you and Don spent the day just meandering and relaxing. You deserve it after the last month of whirlwind activity.

How was that cherry pie? Pretty darn good, I bet. Cherry is my brother's favorite. Mine is apple or lemon meringue. Or just about any kind, really. I'd rather have a pie than cake any day. Mmmmm, it's making my mouth water just thinking about it!

Annie said...

Beautiful photos!

amuse me said...

What a wonderful get-away after your busy months leading up to the wedding.

It is always gratifying to see fruit and vegetable stands on the honor system. Here in Fowlerville, just south of the highway exchange, a local farmer parks a flatbed trailer filled with corn. The best corn around. :) M

J.G. said...

Farm stands are wonderful! Especially those on the honor system. I went to one in N.H. where the "cash box" was a coffee can with a plastic lid, and you made your own change. So wholesome, so trusting, so optimistic. And so delicious!

joaop1960@gmail.com said...

This is real and I find it beautiful...great to be alive.

joaop1960@gmail.com said...

Small is beautiful, I love Small...your other blog pure genious, Ruth

Anet said...

I love it up there. These photo's make me want to jump in the car and go!
I still need to get to Lake Michigan this summer. I'm running out of weekends!
We've eaten 2 quarts of cherries in the past week or so. I should of made a pie or something. We just ate them out of the boxes.
I am amazed at rodeside stands that offer the honor system. Bless their hearts!
Autumn has one on her road that she buys squash from.

Fannorama said...

I am catching up on your blog while I post photos on my own of turquoise beaches from my big tropical island, and yet you've got me sighing for orchards and michigan lakeshores. Your photos are beautiful - pictures of my long-ago home.

Kat said...

Looks like you had a wonderful time and what a nice ride up! Those road side stands are so great! We had lots of those in the farm country in Ohio. We have them in Alabama too. Those cherries make my mouth water. What a nice harvest. Thanks for the wonderful photos of it all!

Vagabonde said...

I love cherries – I already made some cherry jam this year. In our area, we can only buy the dark cherries, or the expensive yellow cherries from Oregon. In France, we used to buy les cerises de Montmorency. They are tart and very good in tartes aux cerises, and also in cherry aperitifs. I wish I were closer to your area to come and get some of those you pictured in your post, but that would be a very long drive from Atlanta.

ds said...

First the peaches, now the cherries, soon the plums (ok, you have those already) and the apples not far behind. How quickly summer flies! Looks as though you had a perfect, relaxing summer Sunday. Lovely.

P.S. Sour cherry pie was always my bro's favorite. You're invoking memories again...

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Lovely photos of the fruits of summer. Like candy.

Babs-beetle said...

Those cherries look so delicious, and I love that last photo.

alice said...

They look like candies!
And I'm with Joao about your Little...
And I'm with you about babies... Mine are so tall now... Sigh ;-))

alice said...

About your Small, of course.

The Bug said...

OK, after reading Susan's comment I want cake AND pie LOL. Lovely photos...

Dutchbaby said...

Looks like a perfect day trip. The bing cherries in the second photo look luscious. Will we be seeing a post of a sour cherry pie soon?

photowannabe said...

The fruit just makes my mouth water. I want to buy it all and take it home. Yumm.
I just love day trips like this. A whole different world just a few hours from ones home.

Pat said...

I love the pictures. They look so peaceful. And I'm a sucker for benches. Especially by the water. How nice that the farm stand can trust people and have them pay on the "honor" system. Gives me faith in society. :)

Nancy said...

Incredible pictures. Just beautiful. I hope to make it to Michigan one day. We should have visited when we lived in Minnesota, but maybe we'll get another chance.

cathyswatercolors said...

Love the cherries,but the Great Lakes are my therapy, can't get enough of them.
David and I visited Leland and the West Coast of Michigan this summer,just beautiful. I can't wait to go back,in fact tomorrow my gal friend and I are planning a trip to the lakes and the woods( hope the rain stays away.)

Oh, Pics of the shoreline and cherries on the tree are great.

MYM said...

Gorgeous photos as always! My mouth is watering now ... and I'm singing Cherry, cherry ... not an easy thing to do.

I saw Neil Diamond earlier this year and he sang this song very well, I even thought he was pretty sexy! lol

CottageGirl said...

We drove up to Mackinac Island a few years back. Gorgeous country up that way. We arrived the day after the lilac festival, around June 20. It was breathtaking! All of the lilacs were still in full bloom!

I can't believe people actually have an honor system at the fruit and vegetable stand! So wonderful that people still have faith in humanity!!

No one is as good as Neil Diamond in concert! He had that .... you know ... special charisma making you feel as you are the only one in the audience. A true showman!

Look at those cherries! They almost look unreal! OOO man -- did you make any pies with them yet?
Cherry(ies) babe you really get to me!!

Arti said...

Ruth,

Lovely place... it's interesting to see what others' 3 hrs. drive north is like. For me, that's close to the Columbia Icefields! Ann Arbor right? I've only heard of it from textbooks. I remembered lots of textbooks I used were published there. How we live in different worlds and yet so closely connected via the blogosphere! Just amazing.

shoreacres said...

My goodness. If I drive north three hours, I'm only halfway to Dallas/Ft.Worth! Texas IS big.

In my Iowa growing-up home, we had three sour cherry trees. I used to climb and eat until the branches wouldn't support me any longer - my dad would fuss and fuss about only having cherries at the tip-top of the trees by the time it was his turn to pick.

Now, I support Michigan by being a faithful customer of American Spoon Foods in Petoskey. Their sour cherry spoon fruit is heaven on earth. It's also heaven over pound cake, dolloped into lemon yogurt, covering cheesecake, or straight from the jar with a spoon!

Leena said...

It`s time of ripe berries and cherries. . .
Your posts make so pleasant feeling to my mind, can you explain that :)
And it`s also time, that I start to visit children,in summer time it is always on the contrary.
I wish you beautiful late summer days and a lot of photos from Scotland!

GailO said...

As an avid reader of several foodie magazines I have often regretted that I can't get those bright red sour cherries here in RI...Bing cherries seem to be brought in all the time altho I don't think they are grown here...but those gorgeous sour cherries? Once in a great while you can find them at the fancy produce store with a very hefty price...no one here knows what to do with them!

I love the fact that there are still a few stands using the honor system...there is a small bakery in my area with wonderful homemade bread sold on the honor system...

Wonderful photos Ruth! I love a good road-trip!

Ginnie Hart said...

Ohhhh, Ruth. I love it that you and Don had this respite after such a full summer...and before he starts his school year. Good for you!

This brings back memories of my high-school years when I worked at the Spanish American Mission. Did you know that Dad gave me permission to drive the station wagon when I was 16, right after getting my driver's license, all the way to somewhere in that area (where the Mexicans picked cherries for cheap) with several of the mission workers with me! I will never forget it.

Jeanie said...

Farm markets just get me where I live! Beautiful photos -- looks like a grand (and delicious!) time!

Loring Wirbel said...

I'm a tart cherry type myself. My wife says my sweet taste buds have been immunocompromised because I only like bitter, spicy, salty, and sour. And umami, I suppose. Usual reaction is "dessert? Yuck!" You make tart cherries look luscious.

Celeste Maia said...

I came to your blog through Vagabonde's. What a discovery! Your blog is beautiful, interesting, intriguing, and many other epithets. It was a joy to come and read several of your past entries.
I started blogging about 3 months ago. I live in Spain, but am now in Portugal for the summer. I am a painter and children's book writer and illustrator. I am still learning.

Ruth said...

Susie, well you know I like pie too. This cherry one with fresh tart cherries was worth the extra work of pitting, even though I wondered about it the whole time I sat with a little knife tip curving into each end and digging out the pit. And hey, I got pretty good at not annihilating the cherry in the process by the last five or six, heh.

Ruth said...

Thank you, Annie!

Ruth said...

Marion, I was ready to hop in the Aveo and check out your trucker's corn. We have a favorite up on Wood Road - Reese's. But I just ate three pieces of Don's he picked an hour ago, and I think he has 'em all beat. Besides, they don't cost $4.75/dozen. Well, he did do a lot of watering after all that planting.

Ruth said...

J.G., my sense is that the people who stop and buy fresh produce at a stand would never steal from the can. But what about the people just driving by?

Ruth said...

Thank you, João. Such small things - cherries, or the things I keep seeing for Small - are worth looking for.

Ruth said...

Anet, please get up to TC before cold weather. September is still good for it. Don't make pie with the dark cherries, it won't come out right - too sweet. It's hard to find the tart ones.

Ruth said...

Oh, welcome, Fannorama. You are away from home in Taiwan. Blogging must be a very nice way to touch the ones you have left. I am the opposite - I am meeting people around the world I've never met. Thank you for your visit.

Ruth said...

Kat, when I told my friend that we had driven all the way to Traverse City for the day she couldn't imagine doing that. But I like the driving part as much as the getting there part. I get into the pines and I just feel AAHHHH.

Ruth said...

Yes, Vagabonde, it would be a 12 hour drive for you to get here. That is too far for cherries. I think these dark ones are Montmorency, but I never even heard of those until I began searching them in Google. I love writing blog posts so I can learn something.

I think cerise is a beautiful word, even better than "cherry."

Ruth said...

DS, you gave us the plums in the WCW poem, which I couldn't leave a comment on. I love it.

Ruth said...

Pamela, the colors of the tart ones especially should be candy. Actually I like sour cherry candies.

Ruth said...

Thanks, dear Babs.

Ruth said...

I just saw your "babies," Alice, I bet they grew four inches this summer. Thank you about Small. It is fun for me to look for things to photograph for it.

Ruth said...

Bug, haha, well, I confess to you that I ate a PayDay candybar, a string of cherry flavored licorice and a piece of peach pie all since 5 o'clock. I feel awful.

Ruth said...

Dutchbaby, I will spare you a picture of the pie. Sometimes I feel like such a nerd taking pictures of food. You mean you wish I had?

Ruth said...

Sue, in northern California you have some beauty, wow. And Oregon so close too. Oh I miss Oregon. I wonder how long it would take to hop in the car and go there . . .

Ruth said...

Pat, thank you. I am always taking pictures of things, but I am getting braver to take pictures of people. It isn't easy. I think they make pictures more interesting.

Ruth said...

Nancy, if you come, please say hello, and please go north. The southern half tends to be a lot of industrial cities. You need to go by Lake Michigan up and down the coast.

Ruth said...

Cathy, I remember when you were in Leland, one of the most beautiful villages anywhere. It was quite chilly last weekend, we were at the lake, I wonder if you went up north?

Ruth said...

Drowsey! It's great to see you back. We can't live without your drowsey humor.

I was surprised when I saw Neil Diamond in that one movie what's its name and he was so short.

Ruth said...

CottageGirl, I did make a pie with the tart cherries. It took about an hour to pit the cherries, which was tedious, but not bad. I used Pillsbury crusts, and it was a darn good pie. I just saw your peach muffins with crumb topping and they look quite yummy even though I just ate too much and am full.

Ruth said...

Arti, we live an hour northeast of Ann Arbor. I would like to claim it as my own, but it isn't. It's where we go to Trader Joe's, bookstores and just walk around and feel cool.

Ruth said...

Wow, Linda, those American Spoon jams and preserves are quite enticing. I don't think I've ever purchased one, they are sold at the resorts and high end gourmet shops. What a cute contrast with you up in the top of the cherry trees balancing for your life and stuffing your face with tart cherries. I guess they got in your blood.

Ruth said...

Thank you, thoughtful Leena. We enjoyed the honeymoon photos, one of Lesley with the Loch Ness monster of course. It's school time for your grandkids, enjoy your visits in the fall. It must be so beautiful in that Finnish light.

Ruth said...

Oliag, I didn't know until this post that the tart cherries are so hard to find. I've lived most of my life in Michigan! But now I think of it, we usually have only the dark sweet ones in the local stores.

Loved your Boston post, Oliag.

Ruth said...

Boots, I do remember that story of you and the station wagon. Apparently you were worthy of his trust because you made it back all right - good!

Ruth said...

Jeanie, soon you and I will talk about fresh markets in Paris, oui?

Ruth said...

Loring, well what the heck happened to your taste buds? I usually go for savory before sweet, but I'll have to balance it eventually.

Ruth said...

Well, Celeste, I could say just the same about your post on Patagonia. That was amazing, I'm stunned by the real images of life there you shared. You're doing a terrific job and have a lot of interested followers too. You and Vagabonde write detailed and informative posts about things I know nothing of, and that is a gift. Thank you.

rauf said...

oh i don't know where they come from Ruth, i see a red dot and stay away as i hurt my tooth once, never forgot the experience of taking a hard bite. i never knew there was a seed inside, like a rock.

Ruth said...

Oh dear, rauf, that would be painful. If I did that I would break a filling because I have a filling in every molar. I spent my childhood in the dentist chair and have a teeth full of silver to show for it. Cherry pits are very bad for teeth. Once in a while a pit makes it through in a cherry pie, I've bit into them even when I didn't make the pie.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Ruth, you have talent dripping from every pore of your body....

Thank you for sharing it with us all... You are truly amazing!!!

Gwen Buchanan said...

I hope your tooth is all better now Rauf!!

Ruth said...

Gwen, I am so happy to see your beautiful name in my salon box, what a birthday treat! Thank you for taking time to visit and say kind things.

Yes, poor rauf. Imagine never having another cherry!

myonlyphoto said...

Hey Ruth those cherries look delicious, I like both sweet and sour, but you know I could eat more of sour cherries. Excellent pics. Anna :)

Ruth said...

Anna, I can eat the sour ones in pie, but I prefer the dark ones for snacks. I think our taste buds change with time too.