Persimmons!

I just ate my first persimmon. It was good!

Several decades ago a neighbor planted a persimmon tree close to where our two properties adjoined each other. She had just built a new house with a beautiful view of the valley below on a formerly vacant piece of land on our mountain. She planted a terraced orchard of fruit trees between our houses. But she died shortly after and never had a chance to reap the benefits of her orchard. The trees soon became obscured by brush and mountain natives.

Our current neighbor recently cleared much of the brush and revealed what was left of the orchard she planted. Some of the trees had died. Others had lived—but barely—without enough sunshine, pruning, and TLC. But the persimmon tree—the tree closest to us—still looked beautiful and by this fall was sporting lovely fruit.

Growing up in Iowa I had almost no knowledge of persimmons. I may have known that they were fruit that grew on the other side of the world, but I am not sure I even knew that. I became more familiar with the existence of persimmons when I moved to California some time ago, but only because of my contacts with the Asian community.

When these persimmons that I can see from where I am writing this started turning a beautiful crimson-orange color, my attention and appetite were whetted. One day when our neighbor was gone, I went out and pilfered (stole?) a persimmon from his tree. What should I do now? It looked ripe but was not soft. It felt a little like a ripe apple. What do you do with a persimmon? How do you eat it?
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ripe persimmon

I did what any modern septuagenarian would do. I Googled it. I found a wealth of information. The most important had to do with the two types—non-astringent (that are shaped like a tomato) and astringent (that are shaped like an acorn). It was clear that I was dealing with an astringent persimmon. I was cautioned not to eat it until it was soft if I wanted to avoid mouth-puckering acidic reactions.

The persimmon sat on the counter for over a week. Little by little it softened, but I was still fearful. Today I took the plunge. I cut the persimmon in half and put it on the plates for us to enjoy (I hoped) with our champagne brunch. I warned my husband—who also had never eaten a persimmon—about it. I told him that I read that you should scoop it out of its skin with a spoon. But while I was gingerly scooping out the pulp, he picked his half up and ate it skin and all. So, I picked up the skin and ate it too. The whole thing was delicious!

I just went out and picked another one to put on the counter to ripen. Our neighbor may need to put a fence around his tree to keep me from sneaking over in the dark of night and pilfering persimmons.

A Day of Eggsercise

Starting lineup

 

The Great Race starts in Saratoga and ends four miles later in Los Gatos. It happened today, and I did it again this year. But this year was different. I came home with almost five dozen eggs.

 

 

 

 

 
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Chicken coop with chickens in the enclosureAbout three years ago someone started building a a shed and a chicken coup on a little piece of land that juts out from our mountain. It is just before the end of the road that leads to our house. This is not property that a house could occupy. But a water tank was installed. I understood from neighborhood chatter that the water was obtained through a deal with a neighbor who lives on the uphill side of the road. The mini-farmyard was the brainchild of a flat-lander who lived at the bottom of the hill in Saratoga. He wanted to have his children experience rural life–and chickens. On weekends the family could be seen there scampering up and down the hill as the place took shape. Soon the chicken coop with its fenced outdoor yard was inhabited by a cock and a number of Rhode Island Red hens.

Through a conversation with another neighbor in the locker room of the place where I work out, I learned where the owner of the “farm” lived–a location at the bottom of the mountain that I passed nearly every day. It was right across the street from the elementary school.

Two flats of eggsToday when I went down to Saratoga for the Great Race, I parked my car in the parking lot at the elementary school. As I got out, I saw a man come out the front door of the house where the “chicken people” lived. I went over and asked him if he was the chicken guy. He was. He was. We talked a bit and then he said, “Just a minute!” He left and entered the house and soon came out with two flats of eggs. “These should last you a few weeks,” he said. “Where is your car?”

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And so I did the Race with a pretty good time for me and came home with a prize of 53 very local eggs from chickens I wave to every day.

We had omelets for brunch.

Mountain Cleanup

There are about forty households in the three miles up here at the end of our road. Over the years outsiders have used this steep terrain to dispose of things they needed to ditch (literally!). About thirty of us met at our house up here at the end of the road and spent the day working our way down and cleaning up the ‘hood. One neighbor had a large trailer, another a small bulldozer. We roped ourselves down steep hillsides and found more than we expected–including an empty open safe, an old toilet, a sports car hulk from which the motor had been removed, an old entertainment center and enough old tires to outfit FedEx.

I took pictures and put them together into this video. Although I intended it just for the neighbors, we were able to use it to get the County to waive the considerable cost of dumping this trash. They also recognized us at a Board of Supervisors meeting and gave us a plaque.

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