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Welcome to News From Italy, my blog about our Italian Adventure. Although this blog has now ceased publication I will be continuing to blog and I am sincerely hoping that my many followers here will move with me to Travel Tales blog to follow my next adventures wherever they may take me. The links to my other blogs are:-


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Monday, June 27, 2011

The Cherry Harvest - La Raccolta delle Ciliegie - 2011

 

We are back in Italy after our third trip to the UK within the last six weeks, all for completely different occasions both happy and sad. Although it is always a delight to see family and friends the most recent visit was a very emotional one and we are glad to be home for a period of quiet reflection.

These trips have meant that my promised post about the Cherry Harvest for this year which took place at the end of May is only just being shared with you here today.

We had a dilemma at the end of May because our cherries were already ripe and ready for harvesting. There is a local tradition that cherries should never be harvested before the first of June, this was a problem for two reasons. Firstly they were ready early due to the weather and secondly the bank holiday at the start of June when locals traditionally harvest, was the weekend we were in England for a wedding. If we had postponed the harvest until our return the birds might well have had them all!  In fact it turned out to be the rain while we were away that ruined the cherries we left on the trees, although we did harvest a few more on our return, it was mainly to enjoy instantly while pottering in the garden!

We have a number of smaller cherry trees plus the two mature trees which yielded us twenty kilos each tree, picked on the 29th and 30th of May.

As you can see from the photos, two different varieties but names unknown I am sorry to say.  I think cherries are at there most delicious fresh so we eat as many as we can that way, it is surprising how long they stay fresh if left in plastic trays in the fridge. We are fortunate enough to have a large second fridge which is useful for such occasions and we are still eating fresh cherries a month after the harvest. The rest we mainly freeze with a few stored in jars both with and without alcohol, which will see us right through until the next cherry season hopefully.

All the photos I have shared here were taken by myself between May 8th and May 30th 2011.

Cherry Harvest Collages

I have also included a slide show of my Cherry Harvest photos which I hope you will enjoy and feel that it transports you to Italy for a few minutes. These photos were all taken in our garden between the 8th and the 30th of May 2011.

Cherry Harvest 2011 by LindyLouMac

If you would prefer to view this video either as stills or in a larger format please visit My Flickr Album Cherry Harvest 2011

My post about last years Cherry Harvest can be found here Cherry Harvest 2010 where it is interesting to compare how much later we harvested.

I am linking this post to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House where you will find lots of other beautiful Mosaics.

Little Red House

Welcome to ‘News From Italy’ to the other participants from Mosaic Monday, thankyou for calling by, I hope you have enjoyed your visit here today.

31 comments:

  1. Lovely photos! I'm glad you had some left to harvest despite the rain and that you are enjoying their delicious taste.
    Hope you are doing well.

    Keep Smiling,
    Vanessa from Optimal Optimist

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  2. Good to have you back again, hope that you can now get your life back to normal once more. I know just how difficult that can be after your last few weeks.
    I have 1/2 a freezer full of de-stoned cherries which will certainly carry us through to next year. Your photos are excellent. Take care Diane

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  3. Che belle, Lindy! Your cherries were so beautiful! Oh, how I wish I could have been there, though if I had, there wouldn't have been many to preserve or freeze! I love cherries! You always bring back fond memories, Lindy. You remind me of home and make me feel happy!

    Beautiful photos, yummy, delicious cherries and... Welcome back, Lindy. I hope that being surrounded by so much beauty and serenity will help a bit.

    ANNA

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  4. thank you for sharing these lovely images,, the cherries are amazing, so many different kinds.Do you mind me asking this?We just came from the grocery store and cherries are 8.99 a pound,, (Canadian dollars), what are they a pound in Italy,, if this is not appropriate please, forgive me for asking, have a beautiful day,

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  5. I've thought of you often the past few days. I'm still so sorry about your mother's passing away. How are you doing????
    Are these really cherries from your own personal harvest? That's fantastic@@@!!!
    We went to the festival in Forchia for their cherry harvest and it was tons of fun and just so awesome up in the mountains!
    Your photos are fantastic!
    We're in Florence/Arezzo right now to visit our eldest daughter. It's hot, but beautiful!

    Continued prayers for you/your family,
    Lana

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  6. Hi Linda,
    Beautiful shots of your phenomenal cherry harvest. There's nothing sweeter than picking then straight from the tree and eating them then and there!
    We had a great crop in 2010 but the birds got to them before us this year.
    Glad to know that you are back home after your trip.
    BTW I mailed your book this morning.

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  7. Linda, I would say you had quite a harvest, despite the schedule issues. Those lighter cherries look like Ranier Cherries that are available here in So. California. They are my personal favorite. Here is a recipe that I enjoy making: http://www.annamariavolpi.com/clafoutis.html
    Anna Maria Volpi is an Italian chef here in Los Angeles.

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  8. Ciao! Such wonderful photos of your cherries! I am actually not a fan of cherries, but the funny thing is I love cherry flavor ice & cherry flavor cough drops. Sorry to hear there was a dilemma with your cherries. Glad to see you are back!! :)

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  9. Love, love, love these pictures, Linda!! The cherries are so shimmering and plump and gorgeous. :-)

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  10. Linda, I have been thinking of you. My prayers are still with you and your family!

    But on a happier note...YAY!!! I have been anxiously awaiting your Cherry Harvest post. It was worth the wait! I absolutely adore cherries, and I will be posting a wonderful cherry and almond coffee cake recipe within the next week or two.

    I hope you have a peaceful and restful rest of the summer!

    xoxoxo,
    Ricki Jill

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  11. Oh ..Linda! Bellissime e ..buonissime!
    Lovely this pics and yummy!!
    Monica

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  12. These cherries are gorgeous. They make me want to do two things - first, go get a bowl of fresh cherries to eat, and second, paint a picture of them. Great shots! Natasha

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  13. You had an awesome harvest. We also have two types of cherries that seem just like yours, (and were also ruined by the rain). I don't know the name of the dark one but the slightly lighter colored one is called Durone.

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  14. Linda,

    Your cherries look amazing and love the colors! Hugs!

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  15. Love the photos and the cherries look wonderful my daughter Jes loves cherries but they cost so much that I do not buy them as often as she would like.

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  16. So delicious looking!!! I hope you can rest and take a breather now. Big hugs!

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  17. It's really so impressive, Linda. I'm so glad you were able to get the harvest done.

    Welcome back home and I hope you are having some well earned time to rest and reflect. Wishing you all the best, – g

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  18. I would be so pleased with myself if we had even a few large handfuls of what you show in those crates. But as they say...pazienza...for young cherry trees cannot produce as much as adult ones.

    Btw, have you heard any news about chestnut trees in Lazio being sick? The ones around here have all been afflicted with some sort of parasite bug, and there are no healthy fruits on the trees (what's left, if any). This is becoming a real concern for chestnut farmers up north.

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  19. Morning Linda, I am not a great cherry eater but those look delicious!! Great photographs and slide show, thank you for sharing, Jackie in Surrey.

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  20. That is one thing I miss from my old home, the cherry tree in the garden! I know they can be a lot of work; fighting off disease and trying to get to the fruit before the birds do. You've done a fine job. Enjoy the "fruit of your labor", and thank you for sharing these beautiful photos.

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  21. Linda, just to see your cherries, I'd make a trip to Italy and back!! Lovely harvest.I love the first collage best. There's something so classic about cherries on their stalks.Beautiful post.
    Rosie

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  22. Gosh, how fabulous to be able to grow your own fruit like that! I'm very jealous. :) When I was growing up my parents had a cherry tree outside the kitchen window, but it was ornamental only, unfortunately. It did look beautiful in the spring, though, covered in blossoms.

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  23. Linda, welcome back, I hope you are doing well.

    Those cherries look simply delicious. My wife is a big fan of cherries, she would love to be there to sample some!

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  24. What an amazing cherry harvest! Welcome back!

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  25. Those cherries look delicious! I'm surprised that the birds didn't get them all. Wonderful that they keep so well in the refrig. Nancy

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  26. Good to have you back, both blogging and in Italy. Hope you are taking things easy, enjoying your garden, all that fruit and plenty of sunshine.

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  27. I love cherries. Your pictures are wonderful and they make the cherries look delicious.

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  28. They are just beautiful! I cut some cherries this morning to mix into vanilla ice cream...for dessert tonight! And I'm glad you are home and hope you are well! ♥

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  29. Hi Linda glad you are back home safe and sound. Your cherries are absolutely fabulous!Wonderful photography too. Funnily enough, I bought some cherries the other day from M&S and although very expensive, they were wonderful, and I found myself thinking about you and your lovely cherry harvest, not realising that there would be quite so much! You are a lucky duck! Lots of love, Linda x

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  30. Cherries! Oh I want to have some right now. Those photos are delightful.

    Hope that you've had time to reflect quietly and regroup and recoup. Blessings...

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  31. Welcome back Linda. I hope that you are doing well. These photos of your cherries are so cheerful and beautiful. I haven't done anything with cherries this year and I need to! Did you plant your cherry trees? Or were they on the property before? How long do they take to grow and produce fruit? Thanks! I just love cherries, in fact, for every holiday we MUST have at least 2 cherry pies on the table!

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