The farm truck watering method seems to be keeping the pear tree happy. For those who missed it, this is a pear tree we planted about 8 years ago and ignored because we changed the location for our fruit trees. This one kept growing and is now bearing a large amount of fruit. It's not near a watering source so we came up with a way to water it HERE.
It seems to be working. Here they are this past weekend. They are changing to a nice color. Still pretty small though, not sure if that's because they are the first real harvest or the lack of steady watering early on. Even if they stay small and we still get a bunch, we'll use them for something!
We saw some videos online that said you can tell a pear is ripe when you lift the fruit up and it just pops off. I did that a few times and these all came off. They still don't seem like they are at the right stage. It's still a bit early but of course maybe our heat has accelerated the process? Whatever it might be, I stopped at seven and brought them home. They are currently in a paper bag on the table near near the window.
Still might be too early, but since we have already pulled these, we'll wait to see what happens.
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Every year during Shark Week on Discovery Channel, we find some photos of the elusive farm sharks that appear from time to time at the farm...
Who knew Hammerhead sharks like pears?
Stay away from our pear tree!
#farmshark
Your tree looks great and being blessed with a nice pear crop providing your shark don't eat them all. :-}
ReplyDeleteYou can make a small pear crisp dessert with the ones you picked. Sometimes when I make a rather large apple crisp, I will had a couple of pears and put in a 9x13 inch pan.
I made a cherry crisp this morning and put it in my red pie dish.
Take care, stay safe and stay cool.
Enjoy your evening
Oooh good idea, thanks for this. They are still ripening in a bag but not soft year, not sure if its as too early or if they will get there eventually.
DeleteHello! Determining ripeness in pears can be a little tricky. When I have canned pears the farmer has instructed me to take them home, keep them covered and in a fairly cool place (but not refrigerated). You are looking for the color to change to a yellow blush and for the fruit to have a slight “give “ when gently pressed. They say the pears are picked fairly green and allowed to ripen off of the tree to keep them from rotting from the inside out.
ReplyDeleteNow, having said all of that—I know this applies to bartlett pears but am uncertain about other varieties. I would contact your extension agent and ask their advice for your particular variety of pear.
Also, having many small fruits may indicate a need to thin the pears in the spring. Good luck and enjoy the fruits of your labors! I am envious of your “orchard”.
Thanks for this. We still have them in the paper bag so maybe it will just take some more time. I'll reach out to the county ag office. And yes, I saw the dozens and dozens of flowers in the Spring and didn't make the connection to the fruit because this is tree that never did that before. Then we saw all the fruit. Yes next year for sure we'll thin. But this year we'll take small pears too, ha. Thanks!!
DeleteHave you tasted a pear? If you don't, that nasty hammerhead will beat you to it.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Haven't yet but it's coming soon, we hope!
DeleteThose are some lovely pears, especially with that rosy blush.
ReplyDeleteThat Farm Shark is doing a good job at guarding your pears!
Maybe it's guarding maybe it's scoping out the best ones. We'll see how many we get, ha.
DeleteThat shark frightened me!
ReplyDeleteWhen I picked pears from a public tree, they were old-fashioned pears, not like yours. But, they were hard as a rock. They ripened nicely just sitting on a table.
These were hard as a rock too. They are in a paper bag to see how they ripen. There are still so many on the tree, we'll wait till closer to the time they are "supposed" to be ready to harvest and ripen and we'll see.
DeleteThere is a farm show called The Shark Farmer on RFDTV. He is in Indiana I think and raises crops, corn, wheat and other grains. I don't know why he is called the shark farmer but I do enjoy the show, he travels a lot to other farms to show how things are raised.
ReplyDeleteShark Farmer, that's cool. We just got the RFDTV channel on our lineup. Haven't tuned in to much but we will. That's fun. Thanks!!
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