The cherry season is officially over. We picked and used most of them early last week, for some jam, and a pie, and lots to simply eat.

We did a final round yesterday, now that the cherries are well overripe, and knocked and shook down the ones we couldn’t reach to pick even from a ladder. Over half went straight into the compost heap, rotten or moldy or half-eaten by birds. The rest (maybe 2 liters) went into the fridge, and will be gone by tomorrow night. I don’t think we’ll find any more edible ones now.

Some of the birds eat while the cherry remains attached to its stalk and branch, so they manage to eat everything. Others pull of the cherry and then try to peck it while they’re holding it, but unfortunately they frequently drop it, so we find lots of cherries with just some large holes pecked into them.