The Fruits of Our Labors

We have the tremendously good fortune of having a wonderful neighbor.  Miss Morell is an older woman who has lived an exceptionally hard life (at least on American terms) and she is one of the "givingest" people I know.  On her single acre of land she grows a phenomenal variety of flowers.  There are fruit trees as well, of many different varieties. The greenness of her thumb is beyond compare.  She also always grows a garden that would put the average prepper to shame  Much of what is in her garden she no longer eats. Between ailments that restrict her diet and time worn habit, she frankly subsists on barely any food at all.  But she keeps on growing it all.  I think most of her produce goes out to family members and friends.  Over the years she has given us a great deal of fresh produce.  Sometimes we are blessed with foods that are not our favorites (okra) and other times there are foods that we relish (last year's cushaw squash dividend, a single cushaw is good for several meals). 



This year we are teaming up with Morell.  We planted 50+ pounds of potatoes at her place (at her request) and we've helped her put in most of the remainder of the garden she desired.  Hating being indoors, she gladly tends what she can and we help her hoe rows when she can't.  In return we are already being flooded with the bounty of that well tended acre. 

She has cherry trees of an undetermined variety.  These trees produce heavily every year and seem to be extra laden with their tart, red drupes this year.  She encourages the boys to come over to pick regularly, and they willingly obey.  So already I have frozen quite a few bags of cherries and made some deserts with their fresh goodness.

Sometimes life IS a bowl of cherries!

Stoning

Individually quick freezing cherries to throw into lightly sweetened yogurt.

Morell has also planted strawberries in as many places as she could find, even though she can't eat strawberries any more, and every couple of days we are blessed with a gallon or so of brilliant sweet/tart berries.  This prompted me to make my first ever strawberry pie . . .

which was absolutely delicious even though it more resembled strawberry soup in a pie crust.

These are some of the fruits of our labors (ours and Morell's) and also the fruits of community.  Making friends with our neighbors is bringing so much into our lives, it's a wonder it took us this long to do it!