Full in the Fruit Stand

We have so many varieties of plums right now that there's hardly space for them inside the fruit stand.  They all have  different flavor, texture, sweetness, and color.  Kelsey,  one of the varieties we've just started picking, is large, green and heart-shaped with a yellow inside.  Kelsey  plums are sweet and sour tasting while they're very green, then as they soften and start to turn yellow and then red they become sweeter and juicier.  Satsuma is a small sweet firm plum that's with red skin and flesh.  Black Amber and Friar are large, black-skinned and juicy with a yellow inside.  Santa Rosa is red-skinned, fragrant and tangy-sweet, while Laroda is purple-skinned and tangy-sweet.  Eldorado is small, and sweet even while firm, with a purple skin and dark yellow inside. 


Since the weather here has been cooler this year, blackberries are still in season.  Normally the berries have dried up by the middle to end of July, but this year the berries flowered and had fruit later.  


Eggplants, zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers are growing well in the gardens and thankfully the tomatoes have finally started ripening fast enough so that we can harvest more than a few a day.  We still have a limited amount of tomatoes compared to what we'd expect to have at this time of the summer.  Last year I complained about how late the tomato season started, but this year it's been a month later than that, so I think I should stop complaining.  At least now we have enough tomatoes to be able to put them out in the fruit stand.  


Here's what's at the fruit stand now:  

• Peaches--Suncrest, Gene Alberta, 49'er, Elegant Lady (all yellow freestone varieties); Sugar Lady,  Babcock, Silver Logan (all white freestone varieties)
• Plums--Kelsey, Black Amber, Friar, Satsuma,  Eldorado, Laroda, Santa Rosa
• Pluots--Dapple Dandy
• Blackberrries
• Vegetables--Cucumber (Japanese, lemon, Armenian), Eggplant (Ichiban, Listada de Gandia, Rosa Bianca), tomatoes, green beans (Kentucky Wonder),  long beans,  hot peppers, zucchini, summer squash, trombetta squash,  Swiss chard, basil, oregano, mint
• Eggs--from chickens at our orchard
• Honey--from bees at our orchard