Picking cherries
I was delighted that my final assignment of the day Monday took me to Monaghan Township. I had seen an ad in a community newspaper for pick-your-own cherries at Elicker's Orchard in the northern York County municipality (E. Ridge Rd.) and wanted to check it out.
Now, I'm no stranger to the pick-your-own game. I gather strawberries at some local farm or another nearly every spring. The summer after my junior year of high school, I worked picking strawberries five mornings a week to help pay for a plane ticket to visit my penpal (pre-Internet term) in Spain.
But I had never picked cherries.
Half an hour after I pulled into the orchard, I had purple-stained fingers and half a pail. That's probably more than I can consume before they go bad, but at $1.25 a pound, how can you skimp? I'll share.
The following are some tips for novice cherry pickers, gleaned from my own experiences yesterday.
*Don't go in your work clothes. They'll probably get stains and dirt all over them.
*Sample one straight from the tree. There's nothing like it.
*Pick the cherries with the stems still attached. This helps them keep longer. (Of course, I learned this after I had finished picking.)
*Be careful reaching for the clusters of large fruit on the higher branches. It's easy to get carried away and lose your balance. (I didn't do this, but came close while standing on an overturned wooden crate!)
The lady at the orchard told me they'll probably be picking for another week yet, so don't wait -- get out and get some sweet red summery goodness.
nicki · July 1, 2008 12:09 PM
I don't recommend this because it's wasteful and messy, but when we were little we used to bite them in half and throw them at each other.
Ah, sweet cherry-picking memories.