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After reading HausFrau’s The Fruit Tree Commitment at Peak Oil Hausfrau, I became….um….wellllll….envious of her lovely peach tree and harvest. Being envious when visiting HausFrau is nothing new though, it is a common occurence with her solar cooking successes and victorious efforts toward sustainability.

I have a confession to make.

I have a love for pear trees, which is weird because I rarely even purchase pears in the store. Store pears always seem hard and difficult to eat. I love everything about a pear tree..its shape….its produce (no matter the variety)….its juicy, coarse texture….the jewel tones of its flesh…. and the clean, crisp aroma of a fresh pear which emanates from that very first bite. In my mind nothing beats ice cold pears with a side helping of cottage cheese.  Pear butter or pear preserves smeared over hot biscuits or pear relish served with a yummy pork roast warm my heart and tummy in the winter months.

I have planted three pear trees in my life. I very lovingly planted two pear trees in my Texas backyard so that they could be trimmed to form an archway into my vegetable garden. Many hours were spent on their care and dreaming about a future bounty. Unfortunately, the ex and his new wife gained custody of the pear trees and organic vegetable garden before I ever saw one bit of fruit.

After DH and I were engaged, he received a promotion and a transfer to a new location. One of the things I first wanted to plant was a pear tree, so we purchased an 8 foot Bartlett and continued to search for another variety to compliment. DH  had to move immediately and I had to stay behind, until after we married, so he was left in care of the new “baby”.Another unfortunate demise of my pear tree dreams came when we realized that there was a severe problem with water where we had to live. Pear dreams quickly turned into pear disaster.

Now, twelve years later from the second debacle, I am going to attempt another hope for having my very own pear tree. Maybe I will even have three…Bartlett, Orient, and Keiffer.  Locally, there are no fruit trees to be found, so I will be purchasing online. I realize that by purchasing online I will be settling for smaller trees, but it appears that an online purchase is the only way I will get one (or three) planted this fall. The Arbor Foundation has a great selection of trees of all varieties and has free gifts with your purchase or if you become a member, you can get 10 more free trees. The other exciting find at The Arbor Foundation is that shipping is only $4.95 for any amount of trees that you purchase.

This morning, I drew a rough schematic of our front and side yards so that DH could help me determine how many trees I could plant. If you are going to dig….say, three holes…why not go ahead and dig 7 or 8 more. If I purchase some of the dwarf varieties I can get more diversity in our fruit diet. My neighbor planted (what she thought) was an ornamental dwarf plum in her parkway and it presents her with the most beautiful dark, sweet bountiful harvest you could ever imagine every year. I hope that my eyes are not bigger than my husband’s digging prowess, but I plan to order:

• Keiffer, Orient, and Bartlett Pears
• Burbank, Damson, and Methley Plums
• Bing and Black Tartarian Cherries
• Early Golden and Moorpark Apricot (My second fav fruit)
• Golden Jubilee Peach (cold hardiness..might add another later)

So that is 11, did I count correctly? Yep, 11 trees! I am probably being considerably too ambitious here. DH jokingly says we can start digging holes now (which may secretly mean…YEAH! less to mow…lol).

Anyone have any suggestions, critiques or similiar wish lists?

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