Just Plum Crazy!

I remember how excited I would get when I was a kid and the prune plums were ready in the markets. They were my favorite, but they also arrived pretty close to the time we had to go back to school: the fall! I recall my mom stewing up the plums and serving them with ice cream or making a plum cobbler, and the smell of the cooking plums. Mostly I just remember eating them. Clean and easy to eat, with a cling-free stone, so no mess. Needless to say I was ecstatic when we bought our own little italian prune plum tree almost 3 years ago. Sure, we had a handful of plums the second year, but this year, we have a crop!! Take a look!

Yes indeed, these are our very own prune plums, and boy oh boy are they delicious just off the tree. They are still ripening every day, but there are always a few ready each day. My special treat now when I come home from work is to run out back to the tree to pluck a plum. They have a very short season so we simply must make the best of it! I love to stand under the tree and just look up. It's like Christmas decorations.

And we grew this!! I feel like an orchardist now!!! Clearly what we've learned is that this long, hot, drought of a summer has been exactly what the fruits want. Raspberries, gooseberries and blackberries were and are prolific. My fig tree produced its first few figs this year, all 4 apple trees are loaded and perfect and still ripening, and of course now the plums. Ah yes, the plums. It makes up for the poor veggie crop this year that was starved of water. Time to check out a few Italian plum recipes. Plum cake I think!