plum assignment

Last year, Steve and Joe harvested some wild plums at our friend Paula’s farm. They lacto-fermented them because for two years we have been fermenting just about every native foodstuff they find. Anyway, we didn’t know what to do with the fermented plums, so we made plum crisps with them. And, I’ll be damned, they were delicious. So when we came upon a large stand of wild plums the other day, we all got quite excited: The boys for their culinary explorations, and me for my artistic ones. I have a soft spot for all my subjects that get these waxy blooms on them. It softens the colors in such a pleasing way. As I stare at this photo, I realize now that I should have made a solar system out of them instead of a grid. The look like planets to me.

wild plums ripening: (Prunus americana) or Prunus nigra (Canada Plum)