Lonelilly
Doin' it my way.
August 1, 2009 at 8:41 am
filed under Home
Being out in the county has it’s drawbacks (and I’m sure I’ll discover all of them once the first big winter storm hits), but right now, it’s pretty much paradise. The past two evenings we’ve gone over to our local library to pick Mirabelle plums from the 10 trees surrounding the parking lot. We had no idea there would be so many, and no one’s picking them!
Mirabelle plums are small, yellow, and have a delicate flavor. They’re grown in the Lorraine region of France and are used to make eau de vie (“water of life”)–a fruit brandy, or plum wine. We’re going to try making it into a wine. Well, I should say, Evan is going to make a wine, because I’m leaving in a couple hours for a week-long road trip down to northern California for a wedding and a trip through the Redwoods.
It’s really easy to pick a lot of plums without realizing it. We weighed our bounty last night—over 100 pounds! We’re gonna have some mighty fine wine.
The problem is that you have to PIT every single itty bitty plum. By hand. Before they rot.
We started last night, but I can tell that Evan’s got a couple nights of pitting in store. 
Wish I were here to help.
We went for a drive one early evening this week when the heat became unbearable (it hit the 100s up here, and no one has air conditioning!). I brought the camera and took a couple pics of the area. This is north of us a couple miles. The little jagged hills are Sugarloaf Hill and Haystack Hill. Pretty cute!
It’s all farmland around us. Lots of berries, corn, and potatoes… It’s a great microclimate right here–the hottest spot in Whatcom County. The balmy air comes in from the Puget Sound, then hits the mountains and slides right back down over us, the sun reflecting off the mountains all the while to make it even hotter. Not that that means much–typically it’s a comfortable 75-85 degrees here in the summertime.
Did I mention we live close to Canada? Those hills over there are foreign lands.
Hope everyone has a great week!
Kate
I happened on your blog while searching for info on plum wine. I hope you don’t mind but I added a link to your blog to mine. We live a bit south of you in Snohomish county. Welcome to the area!
admin
Kate–Thanks for stumbling over here and for the nice words! I just went through your blog this evening–you guys are so freaking adorable!!!! Are you a proud mamma yet????