cherry picking

Last week we went to a local farm and picked cherries with some friends.  It was the first time I took the kids cherry picking.  I remember picking cherries as a little girl and then spending hours pitting them so my mom could make jam or pies.  I also remember eating a lot more than I set aside to be used for baking.

Since school is out for the summer, all 3 kids were with me.  We were able to take Grace's stroller into the orchard so it made it a lot easier for me to manage all 3 of them. 

The kids did a great job picking cherries.  They all got really into picking the fruit and finding trees that had really good cherries on them.  They also discovered the joys of eating the cherries straight from the tree.  Grace didn't pick any cherries but she did eat a few.  I had a hard time getting good pictures of the kids picking the cherries, so I made them pose for pictures.  And it clearly looks like I made them pose for the pictures below...

 The boys did a great job, until they found a hole in the ground.  They decided it was a snake's home and were content to play there while the mama's finished picking the cherries.

We ended up with about 5 pounds of cherries, both sweet and tart.  I was planning on freezing some of the sweet cherries for later, but we ate a lot of them.  My mom brought over the cherry pitters that I remember using as a kid and the boys thought they were so fun.  I think that contributed to the amount of cherries consumed.  I also made a cherry/blueberry cobbler with the tart cherries and it was so good.  John decided we should make something with the cherries we picked for my dad for Father's Day.  So I made the cobbler and he got the credit for thinking of it.

We are now looking forward to picking blueberries and peaches.  I am loving all the fresh fruits (and vegetables) available during the summer.