Wednesday, May 30, 2012



Two or three juicy red currants for me. A few for the bowl. Repeat.

Today, I harvested a good bowlful of sunripened red currants from my mom's garden here in Nebraska. I think these bushes are as old as me! I used to pick them the same way when I was a child.

For as long as I can remember, my mom has always had strawberries, apples, pears, ground cherries, gooseberries, tart cherries, concord grapes, and/or raspberries in her garden. My mom and grandma used to can jars and jars of fruit and store them in the basement to make it through the long, bitter cold winters here.

Over the years, several of the fruit trees have died, and the garden has shrunk in size. It's still bigger than mom can really handle now since dad needs full-time assistance. So I was happy to get my hands dirty and help out since I've been home.

I can't really take these currants back to Istanbul, though I think the Turks would love these sweet-n-tart berries. (Turks do eat a lot of tart fruit like the green erik and green raw almonds.) Guess I'll eat them by the handful while I can!

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6 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

i would kill to have a sour cherry tree. i really should plant one. i just ordered red current bushes and the should be delivered today. i can't wait to have my own currents.

Joy said...

@Joyce, that's wonderful! Hope the bushes arrive in good order. I love all the summer berries, but currants really remind me of the Midwest.

Erica (Irene) said...

My Mom's garden always had a red currant bush.....when I grew up I would make red currant jelly. Now I have my own home and tell my husband I have to plant a red currant in the backyard and every year I forget, etc...... So now you have inspired me to go and purchase one to plant.

Hope all is well with your Dad.

Joy said...

@Erica (Irene), that's great! Hope you are able to find some bushes and enjoy many years of fruit like my mom has.

Dad is slowly healing. Yavas yavas.

Ilke said...

Yes we do love our sour eriks and visnes, don't we? :)
Found your blog through a friend. Will be following your adventures in my city and all over the world :) Istanbul is my love. Enjoy every bit of it!

Joy said...

@Ilke, Welcome! I often have compared Istanbul to NYC - its a love thing as my friends over at Turkeys for Life have called it.

It's nice to be back and to be able to enjoy the kiraz, kayisi, kavun, karadut and everything else that's in season now here in Istanbul. I've tried the green erik a few times, but just don't like them. Sorry! :-)