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| THE CIRCLE OF LIFE |
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I am a Lake County Bartlett Pear also know as Pyrus Communis but you can call me "Pear-Rella".
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JANUARY! January - The neighborhood. Not a very pretty place this time of year. All the Mother Trees are sleeping. That's my tree- the one on the corner. I always felt it was the nicest in the neighborhood. |
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FEBRUARY! There's Mother Tree, isn't she a beauty? The crews have just finished "pruning" her. They cut off all the suckers and shaped her for the coming season. Sort of "face lift" but she told me it didn't hurt. Don't let her know that I took this picture of her - because she is naked, she would be really upset. She is still sleeping but she is yawning and having thoughts of life emerging from her, (that would be me). |
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MARCH! Mother Tree is beginning to awaken - I am about to be born, along with 300 or so of my brothers and sisters. We do have a large family. The beautiful white blossoms, all the new babies in the neightborhood are being born. We are all so vulnerable right now. The next few months are very scary. |
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APRIL! I realize that I am ALIVE. I am a very small pear on a very large tree. The beautiful white blossoms have turned us into little tiny pears and Mother Tree has grown green leaves in order to cover and hide us. I've been told that this month is critical for our survival. We will be combating frost and pests. When it gets extremely cold at night the "man" comes and turns on the water and the wind machines to keep the air circulating so mean Ol' Mr. Frost and his cold gang can't settle on us and cause us harm. Then during the day the "man" comes with his spray machines and sprays us with his materials that protect us from pests. It is a very busy time and we don't get much time to rest. But we do keep growing. Mother Tree insisted that I include this baby picture of me. She said it was her favorite; that's me on the left. |
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MAY! We are growing, we survived the cold and so far the pests. The "man" is taking good care of our neighborhood. Fertilizing and watering Mother Tree keeps her healthy and most important keeps us growing. |
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| The water is so cold, but it is like being on a "log ride" at an amusement park. We float down the chute then go up the hill (elevator), under the waterfall, and across the rollers to the sorting tables. |
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This is the scary part. What if the sorters don't like me? They could throw me to the cannery belt or even worse to the cull line. I'll just smile and look perfect, just like a job interview. |
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I made it - they liked me. We are now moving on to the sizing machine. We come off the tables and onto the rollers, then to the singulator where we go one by one onto the cups where we are weighed. Each cup is a little scale and it carries us to the proper drop. |
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But first we have to be stickered. This is where those anoying little stickers are stuck on us and there is no way you will ever get them off. |
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Down the sizer to the proper drop where I fall into the box with other pears that match my weight. |
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| Don't we look pretty, all nestled together? We are in a machine filled box, or tight-fill. |
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There we go through the sealer and strapper. |
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This is the set off line - where we are stacked with boxes of the same size. |
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After being stacked and strapped we are put into a very large and very cold room where big fans pull the warm air out and push the cold air through the boxes - this is called precooling, where our temperature is taken down to 34 degrees. Then we are put into the cold storage buildings where we will await the call and be loaded onto a truck and taken to your local supermarket. |
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There are also hand-wrap boxes. This is where the humans wrap each of us in paper and pack us into a box. |
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This is a hand wrap box of Mountain Bartlett Pears. |
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SEPTEMBER - Mother Tree is recuperating from the rigor of raising my siblings and me. Soon they will be giving her the yearly facelift. She will go to sleep and begin rebuilding her reserve for the next CIRCLE OF LIFE. |
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Well that's it - my life in a pear skin - from a teeny-tiny bud tot he perfect Lake County Pear.
So the next time you bite into those, juicy, sweet, succulent Lake County Pears give some thought to all that went into getting that pear from my neighborhood to yours. These are some of my cousins - They were upset last year because I left them out of my story. |
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The brown guy is Cousin Bosc - he is considered more of a winter pear - when he ripens he turns a golden russet color. |
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The dark red one is Sister Starcrimson - she is very delicate - when she ripens she turns a gold red color. |
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The lighter red is "Rosie" Red but sometimes she goes by the Red Gold - she is a very good eating pear and stores well. |
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The perfect Lake County Bartlett". |
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ADOBE CREEK PACKING CO, INC.
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