Single Tree News: June 2024

Where’s the Pears?

A number of my repeat customers have been asking me when I will have pear jam again. I ran out at Christmas last year and the pears on Lydia’s tree are not yet big enough for harvesting. But it shouldn’t be too long! And it appears that the demand for pear jam may be a lot bigger this year, because the word about this incredible stuff is spreading. I even have people who have never tasted my pear jam asking me about it. Luckily, I have come across a second pear tree in the neighborhood for which the owner says I can have the fruit, so we should have plenty of jam to keep us all in “pear-adise” for a while.

A Fig Twig

As you know, I ran out of my signature fig jam just a few weeks ago. That’s actually a good thing because now, all the last year jam is eaten up, and we can all prepare for some fresh stuff. Rest assured; my Celeste fig tree is working overtime to produce what looks to be a couple of thousand little figs. It’s going to be a real bumper crop this year.

The figs should be ready for harvest roughly the same time as the pears. I foresee a really busy time coming up in the next month or so. If they are both on at the same time, that could present a problem. If push comes to shove, I’ll have to make the pear jam first because the figs freeze well, and the pears do not. Either way, I’m going to have to purchase a lot of jars pretty soon. It’s nearly time to get jamming again!

Beating the Heat

The challenge right now is the Florida summer heat. When the temperature exceeded 90 degrees, I worried about maintaining product freshness for 5 hours at the market. I didn’t need my granola to melt in their bags like an ice cream cone in the sun, nor did I need any jam jars to come unsealed. Undaunted, I took my product to market along with a plan: a cooler. That plan may seem simple enough until you consider that ice melt also destroys bags of granola. I was able to solve the problem by using ice that was frozen inside a plastic milk jug and placing the granolas in a large plastic bag to keep any moisture off of them. I periodically rotated the granola between the table and the cooler, and it all worked out great.

In Other News…

• Chocolate chip seems to be the new favorite granola flavor! It sells out faster than anything else I make.
• For those of you that read my last newsletter, you will be comforted to know that the woman who accused me of causing her weight gain came back to a subsequent market and happily purchased more granola.
• I have missed attending several markets in a row due to a variety of family circumstances. I apologize to anyone who may have been looking for the Single Tree tent. Weather permitting, I hope to be back on Saturday, June 22.
• Quote of the month: A small group of shoppers had assembled at my tent to check out my wares. As they were asking me about the loquat jam, another woman wandered over. “What’s a loquat?” one shopper asked. As I was explaining, the newly arrived shopper quipped, “Loquats. I survived on loquats when I ran away from home.” There was an awkward silence, as no one knew how to respond to that. Fortunately, a vendor in the adjoining tent spoke up and asked, “Did you run off to join the circus?” She smiled without answering, and I was able to close the sale on some great loquat jam.