Juice Running Down Our Arms

The end of August always presents a dilemma - What are we gonna do with all this fruit? Not that we're complaining, mind you.

Yesterday afternoon I went to a friend's house (thanks, Carla!) and picked about 150 yellow plums. No, really. We picked a lot. They're currently spread out on our garage floor to avoid getting fruit flies in the kitchen. Should be ripe in the next day or so. Juice running down our arms, a sticky mess.... I can picture it now. Yum.

After we returned from picking plums, our neighbors returned from vacation. We've been house-sitting for them, and as a thank-you they brought us the most wonderful fruit! A huge box of white and yellow nectarines and plutos. They are magnificent. More juice running down our arms and sticky messes.

And just in case that wasn't enough - this morning I went and bought a 20 lb box of peaches! There's a local couple who drive to the eastern part of the state each August and come back with boxes and boxes of peaches and nectarines. They start selling them at 8am and are usually sold-out by mid-afternoon. I showed up at 8:30am and got my box. They're almost ripe - another day or two and we'll be enjoying that sticky mess. Planning on canning most of them though. They'll sure taste good come January! Blackberries should be ripe in the next week or so. I better get ready for some serious canning... Oh - did I mention that all the zucchini in my garden are ripe at the same time? And the tomatoes are just about there? I could open my own produce stand!