The problem with Pink Plums

Thank you to both the Pams, Retro Wren,Gill, Judy Y and Buttercup for yesterdays comments and thank you for knowing that everything I say shouldn't be taken too seriously.

The dire warnings by the weathermen about the first gale of the Autumn season meant that we rushed around this morning( bright sunshine and no wind) to get everything done outside. Including picking some of our delicious eating plums to put out for sale and into the freezer. The problem with these plums - and after 20 years, I'm still not entirely sure what variety they are - is that they don't keep once picked for more than a day or two and they fall off the tree really easily once they are ripe. So it may be that come tomorrow there will be lots on the ground. That will please the chickens as I will pick up as many as I can and throw them into the chicken run. IF we get some good sunny days the orchard floor will be a mass of butterflies feasting on the fallen plums - a wonderful sight.

This was the photo from a few weeks back before they were ripe

I now have the official status of the other plums, they are NOT Damsons. According to our neighbour, Damson stones are round ( like the stones of greengages) which means our Damsons are plums! Cooking plums most definitely as they are horribly sharp. It's many years since we had a decent crop and I had forgotten that she had told us this before and I've labelled them as "cooking plums" in the past. We sold several bags of them on the stall and then a caravanner who was here last week asked if we would save about 10lb for them to take home with them for chutney and plum gin! So they went home on Thursday with a couple of bags full and it sounds as if they will have a VERY Merry Christmas!

I'm with Marie at Go Milk The Cow blog when she says that everything is slowing down which makes for a quieter more relaxed time on a smallholding. Although I don't really look forward to the coldness of winter I quite like the preparations, the storing away of food, the sorting out of gloves and  wooly hats, knowing there will be more time for reading and crafting. I also like knowing that I won't have to join in that mad crazy world which is the commercialisation of Christmas and knowing that we will be warmed by free wood - even if I do get driven to despair by the dust.
So if later today we do have gales and heavy rain. I'm ready.