Friday, December 4, 2009

Gone Fruit Pickin'

So if you've been following my facebook posts, you know that I discovered a huge avocado tree on some vacant land across the street this week. But the avos are up high, and not easily accessible. I sent Scott a text and told him we needed a fruit picker.

My resourceful husband got right on it and stopped at the hardware store and came home with a fruit picker. $8. Avocados at the store are like $2 each here, so I figured if we pick 4 of them, we break even. After that, they're free!

Moana was ready to pick fruit.

You might see the problem we still had though- no long pole. Hmmm. I posted this pic on facebook and mentioned that we needed a pole. I love facebook. Ask, and you shall receive. My awesome neighbor Christina wrote and said that they have the long pole, but no fruit picker. A HA! We will combine our resources and each come home with bountiful fruit!

Christina brought her pole over (which was an extending painting pole) and I led her to the tree. Can you see the avocados? You can only see a few in this picture. There must actually be 100+ big ones on this tree. It's like a gold mine in the sky.

Christina did the hard labor.

Score! Avocado in the basket! She got good at it after just a little practice.
Moana enjoyed watching.
She doesn't have a whole lot of patience though so she started eating them right away.
Christina got about 10 avocados today, so we each brought home 5. It'll take them about a week to ripen up, so we agreed that next week we'd go pick more and that way we'll have a batch of ripe ones and a batch waiting to ripen. LOVE IT.

So we brought our fruit home and then Christina decided that she could get some of the star fruit that is on the tree right outside our door. The starfruit is not quite as plentiful this year, and the tree is really HUGE and the fruit is up quite a bit higher than the length of our picker. Christina was undeterred. She threw her shoes off and started climbing the tree, pole in hand.
I was nervous for her, but she's a rock star. Check this out.
That star fruit is super juicy and sweet. YUM YUM. Moana liked it too. You know, there's nothing like having an afternoon snack that you just picked from the tree.

18 comments:

Lizzie said...

Is it just me, or does Moana seem like she's suddenly a LOT older? I love the hairstyle!!

And I am jealous about the avocados - $$$ here, so free is amazing!

Beth said...

Now how about that for "grown locally"?! :) Nice!!

Nitsirk said...

I am so jealous. We can only find apples and blueberries and that's only in the summer. Jack has never had an avocado because they are too expensive. Nice work!

Anonymous said...

How cool is that! And I had to show one of the girls at work the pictures of Moana because she is SOOOO cute!

TriGirl Kate O said...

I'm so jealous! Fresh and FREE fruit. Yum.

Regina said...

I was reading this post to my husband this morning and his response was, "Let's move." I agree. We may be on the next plane out so save some of those avocados and star fruit for our arrival!

Running and living said...

Man, life as it should be! How wonderful!

N.D. said...

I'm so jealous! that's awesome!

Angela said...

Our fruit picking adventures do not compare. I pay to go pick strawberries with the boys on somebody's farm.

I do have an apple and peach tree in the yard since we moved though.

The Salty One said...

And here I am all excited about blackberries and apples! How cool! And delicious. YUM!

Rebecca DeWire said...

You weren't kidding when you said they were high in the tree! I love Moana's hairstyle.

GoBigGreen said...

Oh yum. Are those the BIGGER and LIghter green avocados? I dont know their name but they are sweeter too. How fun!

Ange said...

oh my gosh that is heaven!!! enjoy that. amazing.

Marit C-L said...

Okay - Moana has seriously grown A LOT since Kona! My goodness!

Love the fruit picker - very cool!

RunningMama said...

Wow! How neat!

Angela and David said...

I was really excited because Zach and I found a new produce place and you've found TREES TO PICK YOUR OWN FRUIT. The midwest sucks.

Anonymous said...

Favorite photo is Moana attempting to go to town on that avocado :-)

Katie said...

Awesome. And I LOVE Moana's new hairstyle :)