Homestead mailing list

["Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>]

On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:33 AM, April Frazier <raving_dove AT yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
> In the last 2 weeks, I've done more massage than I did all 10 weeks of
> summer last year. I had sort of been told that summer would be crazy last
> year, but with 2 of us there, it didn't happen for me. I ended up only
> making just over $1000 all summer. This week alone, I made almost $1000!!
>

Good for you.

>
> I saw a segment on Martha Stewart in the past year or so and she used a
> common kitchen tool to easily pit the cherries. I tried to find it on the
> website, but all I found was a suggestion to use a large paper clip. You
> unfold it, and use the best size for the cherry. Just push it into either
> end, twist, and pull out.


WE have a very simple hand held gizmo, looks like a copper tube or pipe
(straw size) in a wood holder. It works well, but it takes a long time to
manually pit LOTS of cherries one by one. When I went cherry picking in 2005
I had 25# of cherries to pit. This year I wanted to can cherry pie/cobbler
filling, but the thought of pitting all those cherries, let's just say I
have not gone cherry picking.  When Gene (then James) mentioned the Victorio
gadget, I was reminded that there are important tools that are not often
used, but when you need them, they are valuable time savers and worth
having. Use them once or twice then put away until next year. A cherry
pitting gadget that did dozens of cherries in a short amount of time would
be one of those items.

Look at this:
http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=1173&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=1173
I want one of these. I have a birthday coming up. I aspire to be back in the
cherry canning business. And will add the Victorio strainer to my want list.


Lisa