It started two years ago. I was training for my first half-ironman, and since we didn’t have anything else to do on the 4th of July we decided that a combination long bike ride / cherry picking adventure was the best way to celebrate. We have gone to Singer Farms every time, and while the fruit crop is largely dependent on the weather, they seem to have trees dripping with cherries. Three years later, it seems like a tradition, even though we postponed this year by a few days. Yesterday was that day, as you might have already seen from the images I posted elsewhere. It was a marathon day, complete with new challenges now that our little baby came along for the ride… although she didn’t bike any portion of it, yet.

It looked a little something like this, starting at 8:30 in the morning and finishing at 3:00 am the next day.

I ride 33 / Matt picks me up / we continue to Singer Farms / pick roughly 38 lbs of tart cherries + 10 lbs of Rainier cherries / start to drive / drop Matt off 33 mi from home so he can ride / get home and recover, feed the baby, take showers, take care of the dogs / Matt gets home / dinner (roughly 8pm by now) / put the baby to bed / clean up the kitchen / start washing + pitting cherries / get canning supplies cleaned / I go to bed / Matt finishes canning.

So, yes we are a little bit crazy. We certainly could have been more prepared, but honestly any time to pick and can fruit it is an adventure that usually goes late into the evening. It makes for a good story later on, and we never regret it in the middle of winter when we literally get to enjoy the fruits of our labor.