Each Peach, Pear, Plum

It's getting to be that time again.

The apple trees sag under burdens of almost-there apples, the grass looks tired and scrabbly, lush, summer leaves are ever so slightly losing their glorious green. Autumn whispers in the wings.

This year has been a strange one for our fruit trees. Last year saw some major pruning and this year, as if in protest, every third tree has refused to grant us fruit. Hopefully they'll cheer up by next spring; but apple trees have long memories and not-always-forgiving natures.

Our more forgiving trees are weighed down with slightly rosy macintosh and mitsu and jonagold lovelies. But we have to wait, and wait, and wait.... and when they finally ripen, there'll be a veritable avalanche of apples!

With fruit, it's feast or famine, or famine then feast anyway!

In other orchard news:

Our three pear trees, always finicky and frail, crapped out altogether this year. No pears at all.

The peach trees are chugging along. Although, sadly, a huge, peach-laden branch broke off one of them during the monsoon-like weather of July and early August. Very sad to see those still-green peaches wither on the vine, so to speak.

The plums, however... plums trees must adore the monsoon because they have blessed us with a real bounty. The red plums have come and gone. And the yellow ones, slower to develop, sweeter and, in my appreciative opinion, most beautiful, just keep coming and coming....

Unfortunately, most of them are very, very high up. We've collected all we can hoisting the children onto our shoulders and instructing them to "Reach!" And still they dangle and wait and if I can get it together, I'm going to make some jam this year. (Um, I believe I say that every year...)

Here's another thing that's grown on our trees this year:

a hornet nest, not far from the barn or coop. I pass under this beauty every time I go down to check on or feed the animals. It's a little scary. But we are going to let nature take it's course, the nest will hang in this maple until late fall, and then it will come down. I'm trying to appreciate the hornets and their place in the world, but did they have to make their place so close to ours?