To Plum Or Not To Plum...?

My Husband, the eagle eyed plum-mer!

Being a lady, I tend to drive at a lady-like speed. Not quite Miss Daisy's but as we all know, the tortoise gets there too. Those very rare occasions that I am allowed to drive Schatzi around, the odd comment about my lack of speed or the imagined closeness to the edge of the road gets banded about by him. Cheeky, isn't he? Fair enough, I have heard that several husbands like to do this.

Often, Schatzi drives me about and the only comment I might drop, is about exceeding the speed limit!!! An angel indeed...Well, recently, I had to remind him to speed up. Driving around our village, he has taken to almost idling along. Idling along and sticking his head out the window.

Bob's enamoured with making his own Schnapps and it is a good thing to make instead of buying. We do have ample fruit in our garden but alas, not the correct fruit for his Schnapps adventures. Peaches and Plums are of vital importance to Bob. The few plum trees our garden has, have been stripped of plums, but they were not enough to fill his barrel.

Just about everyone has apple, peach and cherry trees but the plum variety is scarce. To make Schnapps, you actually use the plums from the ground. The overripe, dropped fruits are perfect as the sugar content is higher.

Driving around our village, Bob's been busy playing plum detective and keeping note of who has which trees. As Bob isn't the only plummer in town, a lot of plum-tree drive byes are happening. No, you can't just pick up the plums but you need to ask the owner's permission first. For all you know, he has been hoarding his stash to make his own Schnapps.

Bob hit the jackpot yesterday and found a plum tree bursting with plums, and more importantly a friendly owner who didn't mind Bob taking them. When Bob got back from his plumming trip, he was grinning from ear to ear. His barrel was filled and the homemade Schnapps not too far off...

A big barrel of fermenting plums only yields a few liters of Schnapps ( prime quality of course ), just in case you were hoping for a bottle in the mail!

Life in the country just keeps getting better and better...everyone knows how to drink Schnapps, but not everyone knows how to make it...and organic Schnapps to boot.

Biggi