Treasured memories of raising fruit trees in the family - Your Stories

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Your fruit tree memories were invited in Fruity Gumboot’s last article – and they came in abundance!

It was a privilege to read them and vicariously experience such heartfelt and treasured memories.  I decided such enjoyment should be shared and have included many of your stories below under the themes that emerged – family, baking and bottling, overeating, childhood play and the thrill of stolen fruit!

Read to the bottom to find out the winner of the Fruity Gumboot Commemorative Fruit Tree Package valued at $240 – a very hard choice!

Also, join up to the Fruity Gumboot Pips ‘n’ Peel bi-monthly newsletter – with giveaways, special offers and always great gardening tips - and be in the draw to win one of 3 copies of Jan Bilton’s Tamarillo Cookbook.













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Fruity memories of yesteryear - It’s all about family!

A home orchard provides endless opportunities for families to interact.  Many GrownUps members recall fond memories of time spent with grandparents. Mtbm remembers climbing trees to pick fruit for her grandparents – “My grandad was such a good gardener”- and Sanz recalls helping her nana pick plums; “one of the best memories I have of my nana”.  Luvs2e loved her grandparents’ grapefruit and the way her granddad would “carve our names on to passionfruit and we could see them as they grew.”

“My grandmother left me with wonderful culinary memories” says Carrie, who was a helpful plum picker (and eater!)  Carolyn also recalls her grandmother’s many jars of plum jam, “and it was the best jam you ever have tasted but no one knew her recipe - it was in her head -so it is long gone”.

Jeannielea recalls her Grandad threatening a non-fruiting pear tree with a tomahawk.  “He fiercely told the tree that if there was no fruit that year it would feel how sharp the blade axe was. It fruited every year after that!”  Acj82 had a similarly energetic grandmother who she recalls “climbing up her sprawling mandarin tree to get fruit for us, way past the age when it was probably a good idea!”

PaulineRae has enjoyed the company of her granddaughter Samantha while picking guavas. “When I was concentrating on the picking, she would be popping a guava in her mouth.”

Sibling rivalry came in to play for both Ashlukris and Verydark, both remembering scrabbling under feijoa trees with siblings and competing to grab the biggest feijoas.  Working together, Bronny and her sister would help mum peel peaches, plums, apples and pears to bottle and getting growled at for eating the fruit that had been prepared rather than peeling my own, happy days :)”

For many it was the general ambiance of fruit and family that created the most vivid memories. “Magic days of blue skies, laughter, the scent of fresh grass and those delectable fruits we gathered”, remembers Lize, while BerylMB loved sitting near her father’s beehives “eating an apple from one of our trees”.

Fruit trees were a great way of spending quality time with dads.  Gaynor recalls picking fruit with her dad 55 years ago, and Kmtrem would help her dad pick plums – “dads pride and joy”.  Alib enjoyed her dad’s mischievous side, with him shaking the trees “to make the apples fall down around us.” Lyndsayg also remembers her dad with apples: “As a child I loved sitting around the fire at night and dad would sit there coring and quartering the apples passing each of us 5 children a piece in turn.”

Similar good times were spent with mums.  Ambarette enjoyed “growing oranges with my mum” and Pixy7 remembers gathering wild blackberries which her mother would mix with homegrown apples to make “wonderful apple and blackberry pie”.  Hummm remains impressed and baffled by the ability of her mother, the “Queen of the Apple Curl” to peel a whole apple in one go, which you “then tried to coil up into an apple shape”.

Applebox is passing on the family fruit traditions to her children.  Treasuring memories of picking plums in her grandparent’s orchard, she’s thrilled to see her sons picking plums on the very same trees!

Is stolen fruit yummier?  

Nanabee thinks so: “No other apricots have ever tasted as sweet as that stolen fruit.” Aqua recalls sitting up in a tree eating the delicious sun-warmed apples – and being thoughtful enough to scrump apples to take home to mum and dad!

“Scrumping” fruit is generally considered a lesser version of stealing.  Chewey’s experience of scrumping apples provoked a half-hearted chase by firemen – they were more interested in the fun of watching them try to run with pockets full of apples she thinks!  

Pauline would steal the family’s “best plums off the tree by climbing onto the garage roof. Could never understand how Dad knew what we were up to (tell-tale red feet from dusty painted rooftop!)”

Scrumping can still lead to a guilty conscience.  Mihe was caught by an aunt stealing plums from the neighbours – and presented a cauliflower as reparation!

Kazza1 was polite and always asked the old lady next door if she could have some of her lovely plums.  Not so her younger brother… One day the old lady found him up her tree and asked if he was eating all her plums.  “He replied no, I’m looking for bird nests.  But with red plum juice all around his mouth it was a dead giveaway!  The old lady and I laughed!”

Stolen fruit spoils are always yummier shared!  Warrior would steal fruit with her sister, waking at midnight for a feast.  ‘Evidence’ was thrown out the window, eventually sprouting a mysterious fruit tree.  Teebone has fond memories of sneaking out at night with brothers and sisters to pillage fruit from a neighbour’s peach, apple and plum trees.  In later years the neighbour offered fruit in exchange for lawnmowing – not tempting enough for Teebone!

Rewards also come with risks – but not enough to deter some GrownUps members!  Although technically stealing for someone else, Goody34 remembers being in a lot of trouble “when Dad found out I was leaving fruit up in the pine tree for my 'pet' possum to eat!”

Lyng44 remembers stealing plums and being chased by the neighbour’s dog, MJS suffered an age of keeping hidden in the branches of the neighbour’s orchard while the owners gardened below – “had to stay still for ages, but it was fun” -  and Ernie67 still remembers the hiding he received 60 years ago after nicking apples from the local orchard!

Continue reading fruit tree stories from GrownUps members…

Our winner!

With so many amazing personal memories, Corrie’s story was a poignant ‘slice of life’ from the 50s.  

“We, my brothers and sisters, were brought up on a farm… We had a huge orchard, and we'd stock up on plums, nectarines, peaches and whatever was ripe, or half ripe. We'd pull up the bottom of our tops/shirts and use it as a kind of pouch and fill it up with fruit and then walk to the back of the farm, eating our fruit as we went. There were these huge Macrocarpa trees down there and some had fallen over. At that time the movie "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" had been screened. We allowed our imaginations to run free. The fallen logs were our submarines. With our supply of fruit, we were there for the rest of the day.”

Corrie has won a Fruity Gumboot Commemorative Fruit Tree Package valued at $240! Fruity Gumboot will plant the fruit tree of her choice, make four organic care and maintenance visits within a year PLUS adorn her fruit tree with a laser-engraved solid brass plaque to permanently mark Corrie’s special occasion.  Congratulations!

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Fruity Gumboot specialises in planting and maintaining fruit trees in Auckland.  We use organic methods, contribute to the community through charitable plantings, and place emphasis on inspiring interest in the garden, particularly amongst children.  Best of all we guarantee our expertise and care – if a fruit tree fails to thrive after the year is up we replace it!

Celebrate your family with a gift that grows memories – and a delicious harvest every year! From plums to mandarins to peaches to Granny Smiths, we can support you to raise fruit trees in your family.

Join up to the Fruity Gumboot Pips ‘n’ Peel newsletter – with giveaways, special offers and always great gardening tips - and be in the draw to win one of 3 copies of Jan Bilton's Tamarillo Cookbook.

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Coming up in the September Pips ‘n’ Peel…

Tree tomatoes to garden tomatoes – round, red and delicious!  Be tempted by new varieties, growing tips and heritage recipes.

Fruity Gumboot has also teamed up with Edible Beds - turn your lawns into lunch with an organic raised vegetable and herb garden.

PLUS keep an eye on your inbox for the latest Fruity Gumboot giveaways and special offers

Join the Fruity Gumboot Pips ‘n’ Peel Newsletter

Click here to visit our website, or phone 09 820 8991 or email info@fruitygumboot.co.nz.

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Published 14th Aug 2009

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