Saturday, June 15, 2013

Plums 3

The plum I grow in my garden tastes better than any other plum, be it from the grocery store, a farmer's market, or even a neighbor's yard. This is my very own plum. I made it. Like a cake, only it took longer.

My father didn't take much interest in gardening. Perhaps he'd spent too much time on farms as a kid and didn't want to do physical labor anymore. Or maybe he'd worked so hard for his advanced degrees that he no longer enjoyed non-academic pursuits. My mother liked gardening and loved fresh vegetables, but thank goodness our next door neighbor was generous because his garden was much more bountiful than ours.

I'm the kind of gardener my mother was: not brilliant, but not bad. I grow a few things. We will have tomatoes this year, and maybe something else. I'm still weeding, so no guarantees. But I begin to see why Mother persisted, even though our neighbor was happy to share. There's something primal about growing it yourself.

This year's first two plum phases are past (1: blossoms, 2: green fruit). Phase 3 is the red and ready-to-pick part. Every day now our little tree offers up at least one ripe, little plum.

Phase 4: savor.


15 comments:

Susan Campisi said...

What a lovely still life! Even better the plums are real and you get to eat them. The blossoms are beautiful. I don't have any talent for gardening but someday I will try.

So, I found out about this post from your tweet. Imagine that.

Katie said...

You left out step 3.5: take great photo! Amazing how delicious home-grown food is. For dinner tonight at my mom's we had just-picked kale and little potatoes that went from ground to oven in 10 minutes. I hope you enjoy a long and delicious plum season!

Kalei's Best Friend said...

Gorgeous photo! The fruit reminds me of what my Grandfather grew... He had every type of fruit tree minus an apple tree... I love the lighting in this one!

Petrea Burchard said...

Sun, water, and dirt supply the talent, Susan, all I have is desire.

Katie, I know what you mean. Mass growers can't achieve the flavor a home gardener can.

KBF, the light is just what came in from the window. Glad you all like the photo.

hamilton said...

I like that you chose to display these homegrown plums on something soft instead of in a bowl. I've never had plums straight from the garden, but I do like market-fresh plums, so if these are better than that, then they must be heavenly :)

Petrea Burchard said...

I admit to the possibility of personal bias, Hamilton.

Anonymous said...

I'm a fan of still life, and this one is juicy.

LONDONLULU said...

These plums look amazing and I am sure they taste better than anything even hours older. (Phase 4 sounds like my favorite phase:)

Petrea Burchard said...

Merci, Hiker.

Lulu, I've already picked a couple for breakfast.

Ms M said...

Superb photo, and wonderful piece of writing.
Hope you're able to grab the plums before the squirrels do :-)

TheChieftess said...

I would love to have a plum off our old plum tree from when I was a kid...nothing better!!!

Adele said...

Well, just, yum!

Petrea Burchard said...

Yeah. When you first plant any tree, it's hard to imagine it providing what you hope it will in the future. We planted this tree about three years ago, and voila! Plums!

Unknown said...

Beautiful photo!

It's funny about your dad not being into gardening. Mine wasn't either and was just as happy to pay a gardener rather than do it himself. I don't remember my mom doing much of it herself, either, and she was raised on a farm. Maybe a midwest thing?

Petrea Burchard said...

I don't know, Lori. It could be that my father was just too busy. He did mow the lawn, though!