Pears

Growing and harvesting your own fruit and veg means living in harmony with the seasons.  It means that right now it is pear season at our place and we have been overwhelmed with hundreds of pears.

It's raining pears, well that's what you would think as you stepped outside and saw the carpet of pears that lay ahead of you.  With this gift of many pears comes some hard work.  I have spent many hours harvesting, peeling, cooking, sterilising jars, reading and researching recipes to make the most of this bumper crop. 

 

The pears were jarred in a light syrup and delicious.  In fact, my husband came down with a sore throat and this morning took the remedy of a gently cooked, perfectly soft but still firm, chilled pear to cool the infection roaring in his throat.  The smoothness of the chilled pear giving temporary relief.

Many pears have been frozen (I ran out of jars!).  There has been pears packed into lunch boxes with exclamations from the children 'not more pears'.  Recess was a slice of homemade pear and almond cake, delicious beyond words and there were many pears shared amongst friends.  The sheep were lucky to receive barrow loads of pears not deemed suitable for human consumption. 

Our free ranging chooks also got in on the feast as pears fall from heights I can't even reach on our tall ladder.  The worms in the worm farm are enjoying the pile of peel coming from our kitchen and the compost heap did not miss out.  I like to think of our glorious pear tree (yes, this abundance comes from one tree mainly) giving to us through the winter each time we open a new jar of pears in the light syrup, or take them from the freezer, when I shovel compost into the earth of our veggie garden in preparation for the next crop, as I pour the worm tea onto my tomato plants in the near future.  This cycle of the pear from fruit, to food, to fertiliser, to a new crop keeps me grounded in the cycle of life.  It's why we are here, to experience the seasons, to be part of this planet and give back to the earth, so that the earth can continue to give back to us.  We need to care for our families, our food, our soils and all these things will care for us.  How lucky we are to have such things to delight in . Let's not forget this cycle of life and maybe we can live more harmoniously on the earth.  All this philosophy from just one pear tree!
Emma
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