Saturday, January 9, 2016

ninth


If I'd blogged yesterday as planned I would have posted this picture of a tomato and captioned it something like - the very last, first tomato of the Southern Australian season. For it seems like everyone around us has been picking them already for weeks.

But I skipped yesterday's blog and this beautiful specimen smelled, felt and tasted as good as we'd been dreaming it would. There are a few slowly ripening behind it, but I'd say we're still a while away from bucket loads.

And in case you are wondering, my eighth day of the new year was a crazy busy one and I just didn't get the chance. I did have a bit of guilt at times, I did wonder if missing one day rendered the whole exercise worthless, I did consider posting something quick and crappy just before midnight last night, and I did contemplate the possible flaw in my character that I had barely lasted a week before slipping up.

I thought about the lovely lady sitting in hospital for six weeks who had written to me, I thought about my Mum and how I'd missed the chance to wish her a public happy birthday, I thought of how there'll be a gap in my record when I look back next year and I thought about what I'd say if anyone asked.

But then each time the thought came up over the last few hours of the day, I made myself remember that the best thing about my blog is that it's my blog and it's a record of my life and that sometimes my life is just too full to squeeze one more 'have to' or 'should' into it. And the best possible thing I can do is tell all those little niggling negative feelings to get lost and go back to living my life and get back to blogging about my life when next convenient.

Which is now, 3.26 in the afternoon of the ninth.


So here goes.

On the morning of the ninth day of the new year we crossed a wide, brown paddock.


And found our one apricot tree. A tree we planted about 10 years ago but has never grown fruit.


We pulled over a ladder and picked those warm, juicy beauties.

The birds had started feasting well before we arrived so we left those they'd started to them.



It was hot work in the sun and we had to take lots of breaks to rest and sample the wares.


Somewhere in the back of my mind I have a childhood memory of picking and eating apricots straight from the tree until our bellies were full to bursting. I can't seem to place the when and the where but the feeling is so sweet and fragrant and delicious.



I believe that apricots are one of those things that once you taste them straight from the tree, you can never go back to shop-bought again. The flavour, the texture, the feeling - there's nothing quite like it. 

Heaven in a basket.


One basket-full is what we picked this year, although there is already talk of planting more.

I think we'll eat most of them fresh, dehydrate a tray or two and bake some into a cake. Yum!


So there we go, all caught up and back on track.


Sending lots of juicy summer loving out to you wherever you are.

Love Kate xoxo



24 comments:

  1. That is the wonderful thing about blogs Kate. They belong to you and you can do what you like with them. I don't think missing one day (or even if you miss more) is a flaw. I think you're pretty brave to take on a blog-a-day challenge as it is :-)

    I can imagine how fragrant and delicious those apricots warmed by the sun would be. I've never had a home grown one and only tend to buy them dried, but I bet the homemade dried ones are better too.

    Happy weekend!
    Sarah x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love, love love it! My childhood was filled with Bulida apricots from the Little Karoo. I could eat handsful and not get apricot-tummy :-D

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are so right. It IS your blog and your life and sometimes life takes priority, just as it should. Love that you are accepting of it and just "jump right back in." I've never had apricots straight from the tree but now I can think of little else. Yum! I so enjoy the photos of your family working together. There is nothing more precious.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm surprised you can find something to blog about everyday so well done for even giving it a go. Love reading your posts and looking at your lovely photos!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gorgeous Kate. Real apricots are amazing aren't they? My tree had a bumper crop this year and finished just before Christmas...our seasons are so different. I can feel the hot day through your photos!

    ReplyDelete
  6. There is nothing like a homegrown apricot. You simply can't purchase ones that are anything like them. Don't feel downhearted about your tomaotes, we are still awaiting our first red tomato & I live in NSW (near Wagga). I was a little later putting them in & I am growing them under a shadecloth, but I did expect them a week ago. Oh well, in a couple more weeks they'll be going crazy.
    As for blogging, you are doing well. I haven't even posted yet this year & I used to be a regular blogger. It seems summer holidays, breaking in a new cow for milking, gardening & just general farm life don't make regular blogging plausible for me. I'm sure I'll get back into routine sometime soon (in the meantime the photos are building up & building up on my camera). I have really enjoyed reading your (almost) daily blog posts & always have a smile when I see one in my inbox.
    Have a lovely day
    Renata:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. One of the things I miss most about Australia now that I live in the UK is apricots straight from the tree! When the craving gets too strong, I make an apricot upside down cake - the baking does wonders for shop bought apricots.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This post my dear, proves you are human! I'm loving reading along with you this month :) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm loving your posts this year!
    This post gave me goosebumps! You're probably wondering why but for some unknown reason I always get goosebumps if I touch, see or even imagine an apricot or peach. I have no idea why and it's such a shame because I do love the taste but the texture prevents me from handling them. Just thought I'd share my quirky response to your apricot post 😀 Jade x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your posts, and to tell the truth my days are so full these days I don't always get to visit everyday and have to catch up a few posts in one. I guess that makes me and a you and a whole lot of others human, xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love it all. Good to see you're human, perfectly imperfect and not ashamed to write about it. Thanks Kate for being real. xo

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, I can smell the heat of the field and the sweetness of the apricots in the shade. It's winter where I live. Thank you for this beauty. I respect your resisting the SHOULDS of day eight, and getting on with your routine on day nine!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oooohh that glorious basket of apricots, I've never had them straight from the tree before, but if they are as amazing as they look - yum. Thank you for another wonderful dose of sunshine.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Goodness, it might take 10 years for our one apricot tree to fruit?? Must plant me some more too next autumn! We managed to eat 2 bags from a farm stall a few weeks ago, so delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm loving catching up on your glorious summer days so far, Kate x

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Kate, I have been reading your blog for quite some time, long before the idea of buying a 'farm' came to mind. we moved onto our 4ha property on Tuesday before Christmas. your blog is now so, so, so much more to me than some light reading. We have some old apple trees, a few chooks and soooooooo many ideas. (Tania, Christchurch, New Zealand)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm right there with you Kate, tasting that same goodness from our suburban backyard just over an hour away. I'm watching our big pear tree promise little beauties that we may or may not get to eat depending on the appetite of the parrots, and feeling grateful for the apricots and plums and tomatoes we are scoffing right now. You are such a hard working gang. The fact you blog as much as you do is amazing!. And was that your sister I read about, cycling up to the top with her boys? What a family of women - there's no stopping you! x

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh I am feeling your tomato excitement! I too keep reading about everybody's abundance of tomatoes, and I finally got to enjoy my first one 2 days ago! It was delicious! I must admit though, I may have had a few a week earlier if my naughty dog hadn't discovered them! She was quite cheeky and would only pinch the slightly orange ones!

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's really sweet to see that my reminiscences about eating apricots directly from the tree on the other side of the world exactly reflect your actual experience. And your apricots look exactly like my owns, as grown in Italy. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Beautiful photo of Pepper and Bren in the tall grass. Xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  21. Heaven in a basket indeed! I remember as a child Dad had hung a hammock in our apricot tree and my brother and I lay on the hammock picking and eating apricots.....hmmm delicious! Must confess, I'm always disappointed with shop apricots - they never seem to live up to my memory of those Summers.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Last year I made apricot jam from ours! This year I got..

    ...

    4.

    Four measly apricots. all the rest were eaten by the birds while they were still green. So now I am green with envy reading this post!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I still liked this article, good, good content, and unique design.Thank you for sharing the article
    cara menyembuhkan pembengkakan di luttu

    ReplyDelete
  24. I really like the content in this website, are all new things and new lesson for us this very increase knowledge becomes more widely,
    pengobatn untuk sembuhkan telinga bernanah

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for stopping by...

I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.

Kate XX

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Visit my other blog.