pears n things

[schmism]

a nice large golden garden spider set up shop right under neath my east bee hive. The girls are in the process of tossing out the drones for the winter and defending against the SWARM of yellow jackets that have moved in to take advantage of the ripeing pears.



I had picked the first round of pears about 2 weeks ago. The wife took the afteroon off to take advanage of the slow day (they just turned in the project they were working on fri) and she wanted to work on canning more pears. I picked with the hand held picker thingie last week, today she only did hand pick within about 12' today.





Todays haul and probably last for the season. The first picking was about as much also.


couple of fall garden shots. (only half of it)






It was very fall like today. Current high temp 65 with a 6-10mph wind out of the west bringing a bit of chill to the air. (the labs love the cool weather)

 

[czechsonofagun]

Pear brandy I say

 

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Steve,
Boy those raised beds sure are doin well !!!

 

[jimmyj]

Nice looking garden. That WD40 sure makes the stuff grow

 

[jinman]

Very nice, Steve. Are you going to make pear butter or pear preserves? Yum! Your garden looks pretty healthy still. Mine is starting to come back since the weather cooled off and we got some rain. My grape tomatoes are suddenly setting hundreds of fruits. Our first frost may not happen until around Thanksgiving, so we have a very long growing season.

 

[boxygen]

Very Nice! Looks like you guys are living the good life! A nice fall day in the yard with the dogs, your wife and the tractor - tell me it gets any better than that.

 

[tugboat-2]

Great looking pear crop!! I hate to see 'em go to waste. Generally just can enough to do till next year. This year I combined hot peppers and pears and made a big batch of "Hot Pepper-Pear Jam". Came out real nice! Goes great on a cracker with cream cheese as a horses-doover or on toast or with pork or is just fantastic with the Elk stew I just made in the slow-cooker, MMmmmm! Hits the spot on these cool autum evenings!

Czechsonofagun: ...do you happen to have a good Pear-Brandy recipe you might share with a "good-ole-tractor-buddy"? Hmm?

CHEERS!
. . tug

 

[czechsonofagun]

Tug:

I have seen it done with plums and pears. The process is basically to let the collected fruit naturally ferment for about 3 month and than distille the must. My ant used big pot with basin of water on the stove, but there are better apparatus out there I am sure.
If you want to give it a try, here is a recommended web page - The Home Distilling Professionals - Smiley's Home Distilling - with all the possible legal restrictions and health concerns answered.

In my country it was always somewhat tolerated activity; legally you could take fruit to a factory and for a fee they would distill it for you, however when your plum season was late, you were out of luck - that's why my ant made here slivovice herself several seasons.

 

[tugboat-2]

czechsonofagun: My sincere apologies for such a delay in getting back to you on this, but I do thank you for the reply and for the interesting link.

I have a good Italian neighbour on the farm next to me. Naturally, they make wine, cheeze, sausage of various kinds among other things,...and love to share!

And,.."of course",..being good Italians, they make various food and drink to last the winter. They have their own vineyards and grape press and all the equipment for making alcoholic beverages. I might have known, (but never suspected) they'd have their own "still"!!

After explaining how they make some very potent liqueurs,...some by running a not so great batch of wine through the still, (rather than down the drain),...he told me they have recipes for various types of Brandy and he'd be glad to help me make a batch,..using pears, or other things.

Anyway Prokop, I thank you for your assistance and wish you well.

CHEERS!
. . tug

 

[NSBound]

- that's why my ant made here slivovice herself several seasons.

Ach, slivovice - pure poison! Almost took my throat out on that stuff!