Plum Crazy

A couple of days ago, on possibly the hottest afternoon of the summer, we went to the Cain-Gibbins ranch to pick some plums! You see, when we're gathering cattle there Trail likes to take "little breaks" to pick some plums because he's usually starving, so we got the idea that these plums would be great to cook with and eat, because HELLO there free and there are tons of them! We would be insane not to picke 'em! Or are we insane for pickin them?? Are we plum crazy?? (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) I don't know yet, we'll have to see how we feel after eating them...

This is Mama and Trail picking plums...well Mama is picking plums, Trail is to busy looking for snakes, lizards, and other creatures that make me scream.

Take notice of Mamas rake...she used this in every bush before she picked...she's just knew a snake was waiting to bite through her rain boots.

This is Autumn, vigorously picking plums...I think she considers herself an expert plum picker, because when she would look at my basket she would simply utter a "Humph" and smirk to herself...Well Autumn, if you must know my strategy its "Quality not quantity!"

This is one of the few times I did actually pick and, yes I have the snake rake now...you can never be too careful...

Aren't the plums brilliant? They're absolutely gorgeous! (Sorry, I use to read alot of Jane Austin books, so in consequnce to that I sometimes think I live in the 17th century and I start talking as they did...It's a personal problem, that I'm dealing with one day at a time...)

And they're quite bountiful too...

They were so bountiful, that we loaded up two buckets about this size and took them home to make Plum pie! (Notice Trails amused face.)

One thing they failed to mention though, is that to make plum pie, you have to pit the plums, and that is a messy, grueling, hour long process that I did myself with minimal help from others...And thats all I have to say about that.

One beautiful thing did come from the horrible thing (plum pittin'...it's still hard for me to talk about) though, and that was the plums that were ready for the pie! They were so colorful, and I wish I could say they smelt delicious, but they didn't, they really didn't smell at all...go figure?

Mama the proceeded to make the crust for the plum pie, actually by this time it was more of a cobbler/tart dish...but nevertheless, the crust was delicious.

Take a look for yourself. Doesn't it look appetizing??

And look at this! Is your mouth watering now? Well, rightly so because the plum cobbler/pie/tart was delicious, well except when you got a plum that wasn't qutie ripe yet, those plums were rather sour, but beggars can't be choosers.

So all in all the plum pickin' was a success. And afterall, we weren't plum crazy, and thats all I have to say about that.

Peace, love, & plum pie, plum cobbler, plum tart, plum sandwhich, plum salad, plum bread, plum soup, plum casserole...etc.

Sweet T