Me and prunes go way back
One of our favorites fruits are Italian Prunes. After being raised on these, with their tart and sweet taste, I don’t really care for plums. Fresh, frozen, dried or canned the flavor is superb.
If you’re buying fruit always look for the waxy bloom, if the fruits are shiny pass them up, they have been sitting quite a while.
We had a great crop this year, despite the cool, and rainy spring. Harvesting though, turned out to be a job. Last week, when we had great weather, the prunes were not quite ripe – this week with heavy rains and hail predicted they finally ripened! What to do? Spend all day picking prunes or put in the rest of my cover crop. Both needed doing at the same time. I opted to pick the prunes, reasoning if I had to, the cover crop could be broadcast in between showers, but the prunes at this stage of ripening would just split. They would still be salvageable, but watered down – not my preference.
All our fruit trees are standard sized so we can graze livestock beneath them, this cuts down on our mowing mechanically and provides a little more pasture for our grazing crew. However, we are pretty strict about not allowing any grazing at least 90 days before harvest. Grassfed animals have a lower risk of virulent e.coli, we would rather err on the side of caution. My husband has a compromised immune system, so care is in order when I harvest. No 5 second rule here, if the fruit falls on the ground or is a windfall, I put those in a separate box(s) that will just be used for cooking. I also put those boxes of windfalls out of sight too, just in case someone wants a quick snack. Until it gets very cold, our covered porch on the north side of the house acts as our refrigerator.
Now that the prunes are harvested and the cover crop in is, I have my work cut out for me 
Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
They look absolutely delicious!
They are pretty yummy!!
When I grew up (I grew up on a fruit orchard) my grandfather raised prune plus other things. We had apples and other things. BUT my favorite fruite of all times, and still is, are Blood Plums. My grandfather had 3 acres of them. Oh how I loved them. I wish they were still around, but alas I have not seen any since the old farm was bought after my grandfather’s death. Today it sprouts a suddivision.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Linda, what a great story except the subdivision part
The name Blood Plums sounds so intriguing, what wonderful memories.
Gorgeous pictures! What do you plant for cover crops. We have never planted any in the past but plan to this year.
Kim, this year I used cereal rye and hairy vetch in combination in some areas, that is what is growing in the corn. And where I am fallowing next year, I just planted the rye to combat the hardpan and quack grass.
Yes! I remember those Italian prunes from when I was a kid visiting with my Italian friends. They had grapes too and I remember the father braiding garlic bunches. Nothing like fruit picked off the tree.
Callie, aren’t they tasty?? Nice memories
MoH,
I love your photos. Waxy bloom translates into “untouched by human hands”. Any chance you could share your prune seeds? I prefer my fruit trees to be standard size.
I also printed out and bound the copy of A Treatise on Milch Cows that you forwarded. My dairy farmer friend thanks you so much (I do too).
Kevin
Kevin, thanks, and isn’t that book great? Try One Green World for standard Italian Prune trees. Growing from seed is fun, but not very fast. Like most seeds, stone fruits need cold stratification, easiest outside all winter in a planter.
http://onegreenworld.com/
Oh BTW, my very human hands touched those prunes very carefully
Maybe if you get a chance you can post some recipes of what you are going to do with all of those beauties…;-) I tried looking for this tree last time you posted about it…did you say they were from Raintree nursery?
Kristen, I would get the Italian Prune/plum from One Green World.
http://www.onegreenworld.com/
Raintree’s strain of Italian is on dwarfing stock, and I have two from them that are going to be firewood (and not much at that). The Italian is not a big tree to begin with so size should not be a problem, and I think the deep rooted standard would be a better fit for your dry conditions.
We eat most of them dried or canned and they are may favorite fruit to eat half frozen or half thawed depending on how you look at things. To post recipes that means I have to get all creative and cook – I am going to miss just eating out of the garden
You have instilled in me a very unbecoming case of Fruit Tree Lust. I never knew I needed a prune tree until today!
Hi. Would it be possible to detail a little of how to grow a tree from seed – or direct me to a website. For once, Google isn’t coming up with the goods.
Thanks
-peter
From seed takes years and you’re not ever really sure of what you will get because of crossing etc., unless you know the exact parentage of your tree. Plums are stone fruit, so you may be more successful searching for peach information. Type in “peach seed planting” and see what the sites offer you. Hope that helps.