Windfall

The first thing most of us think of when we hear “windfall” is unexpected good fortune, perhaps an inheritance or a lucky stock return. Windfall originally is ripe fruit blown from `a tree or bush, such as the wild plums Dennis, Marianne, and Oz gathered up on Saturday. No ladders were needed, making the task far easier

Some were easy pickings, having dropped onto wood chip mulch.

Most were in the periwinkle that surrounds the tree.

Marianne added a few under-ripe plums she pulled from the tree branches, hoping they would contribute pectin to the juice we eventually would extract from the fruit.

In less than an hour the toilers accumulated a pailful.

That afternoon Dennis and I washed the plums, discarded a few, and cooked them in two big pots. We put the cooked plums in a jelly bag and let the juice run through, leaving the pulp for the chickens.

Sunday morning we made two batches of jelly. The first batch, made without added pectin, didn’t jell, so we called it syrup. The second batch, made using added pectin, jelled just fine. The end result was gratifying.

This morning Dennis made pancakes which we ate with plum syrup. The taste was heavenly.

Now, thanks to Oz’s and Marianne’s generosity, and to Dennis's hard work, I can check “Make wild plum jelly” off my bucket list.

Copyright 2014 by Shirley Domer