in seattle, we had fruit trees in our back yard: green gage plum, several varieties of apple, damson plum, and rainier cherry. in the year 2000, i planted a pear tree as well that started to bear fruit the year we moved.
we harvested the fruit each year and made dozens of jars of jelly and jam, which we gave away to all of our friends. one year, i had the bright idea that we would also make flavoured oils and spiced almonds and fill gift baskets for christmas. richard designed the labels, and we bought some cellophane from michael's craft store to put over the finished product. you had to use a hair dryer on the cellophane to shrink it to fit, and after doing three of them, we gave up.
we ended up with lots of extra jars, baskets and nuts. a few random friends got baskets and the rest got presents selected with care from the store.
[written 22 may; posted 23 may]
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