Today's post is about harvesting things long awaited. First, after more than two years of research and more than a year of writing and re-writing, I am polishing my manuscript in preparation to begin marketing. Seeing the pages in a neat stack feels like quite a harvest to me!
Second, I have posted about canning plum jelly and have shared photographs of the blooming plum bushes, but for those of you who have never seen a sand hill plum, I have supplied only my verbal description of the plums. Every year, like Isaac, I await the sand hill plums, hoping that there were no late spring frosts to harm the blossoms and that rains came at the right times so that the bushes will be loaded with plums in summer. Those of you who follow my blog know that a late frost and too little rain left the plum bushes nearly empty last summer. You also know that I have hoarded one last jar of the 2010 jelly, refusing to be completely without. Now I can open that jar.
Hurray! The 2012 plum crop is here, and the bushes are loaded. Most are still too green to pick, but this morning I went out with my pail and my camera to pick and photograph the early ripened plums. I will gather more in coming days before I set aside a day for making jelly, but the first day of harvesting the plums is deserving of celebration.
I believe they are early this year, and I know they are earlier than Isaac picked his plums. I found one incredible thicket on which the plums are remarkably large. Perhaps there were plums like these in Isaac's day that gave him so much pleasure eating them right off the bush, but I don't remember ever seeing plums so large.
Although my manuscript is nearly complete after many drafts and much editing, I will continue to post stories about Isaac and his community on my blog. For those of you on facebook, you may visit my Lynda Beck Fenwick page to follow my progress in seeing Isaac's story published. Just enter Lynda Beck Fenwick in the search window at the top of your facebook page to visit.
Things long awaited are especially enjoyed, and although finishing the manuscript is only a milestone and not the final goal, thank you for supporting me along the way so far.
5 comments:
Congratulations on your milestone with the book. May the publishing journey be as sweet as that much-relished jar of sandhill plum jelly!
Congratulations on the finalization of your manuscript! There is some apprehension with finishing a project, isn't there? Rather like an empty-nest syndrome. Good luck marketing the book!
Yes, the sand hill plums seem early this year. Probably because of the mild winter, don't you think? We usually pick them when we are there to celebrate my dad's birthday on July 25th. I hope there will be a few left by then because my cupboard is nearly empty, as well. We haven't purchased store bought jelly in years!
This has been an interesting journey. Thank you for bringing us along. I can hardly wait for the finished book.
Lynne
Those plums look like the makings of fantabulous jelly and syrup. Fax me a jar.
Glad you will keep blogging, I have so greatly enjoyed your weekly posts.
I did see a jar of Sand Plum Jelly in Weatherford, TX this week and I don't know if Sand Plums are different from the ones you have written about. Is it a certain species? Related to a specific area?
I don't know if sandhill plums are found in other regions. The plums in this area are primarily in pastures that have never been farmed or in fence rows of fields, like the few in the fence row beside Isaac's old homestead. In other words, they are found in places where they have escaped the plow. They may extend to unplowed pastures in OK and TX, but I don't really know.
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