Monday, April 19, 2010

Fingers Crossed...

Our Apricots are in bloom...
And since we are at about 7,000 feet above sea level, it is always touch and go if another frost will come before the blooms set. People, in town, want to be kept updated on if we are going to have an apricot crop, many coming out and picking them for canning and even a secret recipe of "apricot brandy", that somehow start out as vodka?
These are big apricot trees, biggest most people have ever seen.... and old...

We live on an old homestead. The barn in the back is made of railroad ties, pulled up from the tracks of the old spur lines of the railroad that is now gone. Mr. Ruben, who we bought the homestead from, remembers climbing in the big tree in the foreground when he was a boy- he was in his eighties when he told me
that... 

It has to be at least 35 feet high and over a hundred years old. There is a "Centennial Tree" program, for the biggest trees in Colorado- we could see if it was one biggest in Colorado. My littlest still plays under its branches and up in it for that matter, there is always something hanging there, ribbons, flowerpots, or more interesting fair....old trees and little boys and girls will be forever friends.

5 comments:

  1. oh what a piece of heaven you live on! Those trees are gorgeous and so are your photos!

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  2. I grew up with an apricot tree in my backyard. But it was nothing like these.

    Beautiful. Magnificent.

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  3. Wow, Julia, I had no idea that you were up that high in elevation. Those trees are a real treasure. When my family first moved to Pasadena, Calif., from the Mojave desert, we had lots of fruit trees. Two apricot trees we among my favorite. My favorite pies are apricot, and my dad used to make an apricot brandy using my mom's apricot preserves. Good stuff. Nice post. What a lovely spot.

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  4. I love these pictures Julia! Your world looks so mysterious and wonderful!

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  5. We don't know how many more years they have- luckily there are baby apricot trees that do shoot up on occasion-
    The man who does the apricots brandy I think starts by soaking very green apricots in vodka- so don't know whay it is called brandy- I can't even take one sip of it-it is so strong- but Jon likes it.
    Faith- believe me my world is just as mundane and real as anyone else- I was just standing on the rubble heap Jon hasn't dealt with yet- to ge the best angle to take the picture-

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