Over the 4th of July, I had the opportunity to visit my parents in Michigan. Summertime in Michigan has always been one of my favorite times of the year. It’s not too hot and the nights are perfect for watching lightning bugs flicker across the backyard. Growing up with my grandparents having a huge garden and 13 acres for us to play on made for a lot of time spent picking home-grown fruits and vegetables.
I remember at the time, picking beans or husking corn was the last thing that I wanted to do in the middle of my summer. We’d spend hours picking corn, husking corn, washing corn, cutting corn, and freezing corn. It seemed like we froze and canned anything and everything that came out of my grandparents garden.
At the time I didn’t realize I was spending valuable time with my grandparents and mother. At the time I didn’t appreciate the home-grown food we’d been eating later that fall or in the winter. At the time I didn’t appreciate everything I learned about growing a garden. At the time I didn’t realize there was more than husking corn going on. At the time, I just didn’t appreciate it. Yes, I was thankful for the food, but when you’re 12 years old, you really don’t understand what is really going on.
So when my mom asked if I’d like to go pick sour cherries one morning during my visit, I said yes. I’m not sure if I’m any smarter than when I was that 12-year-old girl, but I definitely understand the value in spending time with my mom and creating a memory that will last us both years to come.
I’m really trying to document more of the daily happenings of life and not worry so much about the picture having to be perfect. I get focused too much on trying to create that perfect picture with the perfect pose and the perfect background and the perfect exposure that I find myself missing out on the little moments of life that aren’t always so perfect. I thought I’d share with you my cherry picking adventure in Michigan.
It was early okay? Don’t judge.
Our hard work, about 15 pounds of cherries!
After we picked our cherries, we had to wash them off and sort out any bad ones that snuck into our buckets.
Then our cherries were placed into the cherry pitter and pitted for us right there. That saved us hours of work in about a minute! This pitting machine has been around for more than 60 years!
The pitted cherries went back into the bucket and the pits were sent outside.
Mom and I made a great memory and I’m looking forward to having some cherry pie next time I come home for a visit!
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