Apricot avalance

We’ve lived in our current house for five years, nearly. Among the fruit trees we inherited are two apricot trees. When I first looked the house while house-hunting they had apricots on them. Since we moved in there have been none at all or so few that the birds find them before we even realize they are there. I was severely tempted to cut them down and put something else in their place.

Then there was this year. Remember that verse from the Bible that promises God will “pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it”? That’s these two apricot trees suddenly. They were loaded with flowers this spring, and evidently we never got a hard enough freeze to kill the fruit like we have in years past.

Seeing the coming tide, I thinned them without remorse, and I removed at least three for every one I left. Hah! That didn’t even slow them down. They grew, and they grew, and then, just as we were getting ready to go on vacation, they began to ripen. Worst. Possible. Timing.

My valiant wife has done her best to keep up with them–and to find uses for them. We’ve tried them in jam (yum!), in cobbler, in cakes, eaten them straight for nearly every meal, canned them, frozen them… and they just keep coming! And we can’t even give them away, because of course everyone else is having a good apricot year, too!

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not that one tree seemed to lag behind the other. After we got back from vacation I went out and picked the rest of the apricots from that tree. A lot were bird-eaten and/or over-ripe, but we still got quite a few. A few were ready on the second tree, as well, but after picking those it appears we might get a week’s reprieve before the next wave hits.

I don’t know what we’ll do when this next wave hits. Try making smoothies? Sell them to unsuspecting city-slickers as gourmet peaches? Hurl them at random passersby? Pile them up on the front walk and let them get all slimy as a trap for door-to-door salesmen? See if we can convert them into bio-fuel? Give a bunch to our new neighbors as a “welcome to the neighborhood” gift?

I know in a couple of years we’ll be missing apricots again. I suspect with the weather patterns around here it’ll be rare when we get this much–if any. At least now we know it’s possible. We’re used to the apple and plum trees producing yearly. Perhaps next time we see apricots coming on we’ll be better prepared to deal with them.

It’s a nice problem to have. We just hate to think of any of them going to waste.