This has been a mantra of a good friend to me for many years. She's the queen of finding simpler, better ways to do anything. I thought of this this morning.
There's a reason "picking low-hanging fruit" is a synonym for taking the easy route. I've harvested all of the low-hanging unripe figs from our trees already. They were easy. Now I'm left with figs 10 feet or more above my head. Even on a ladder, picking those figs would be a difficult job.
I usually prune fruit trees in winter, after the leaves have fallen. Today I decided to do the winter fig tree pruning and harvest the high figs all at one time. Smarter, right?
Fortunately, unripe figs are firm, like the texture of cork. After cutting the branches off, I easily plucked off the figs.
I filled a salad spinner filled with those figs, enough to work with this morning.
One full salad spinner makes 2 quarts of preserved, sweetened unripe figs.
When I can, I double up my jobs, sometimes combining two jobs into one or sometimes making twice or more of the same recipe. If I have two occasions for which I need to contribute cookies, I make a double batch and freeze one half. In fall, knowing I will be baking a lot of pies between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, I make a 5-pie batch of pastry and freeze it all in rounds.
If I had picked figs directly off the tree this morning, with the plan to prune branches after the leaves fall, I likely would have spent the same amount of time climbing a ladder and picking one by one, moving the ladder, picking more, moving the ladder again, etc. as I did sawing and quickly plucking figs off the fallen branches. And now I don't need to prune this tree in winter.
What are some ways you've found to work smarter and not harder?
I often bake cookies in a pan like brownies. It's quick and easy and they taste just as good.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have quite the right growing season to get a lot of figs from our tree. This year, we only had one ripe fig, but lots of green ones. I don't know if I'd like the sweeten green ones or not. How would you describe the taste?
Hi Live and Learn,
DeleteI go in phases where I make all bar cookies, then do all drop or cut out cookies. Bar cookies are definitely faster and taste great.
The taste of unripe green figs, unsweetened but cooked is a little like artichoke to me. Some people say they taste like cucumber or mild melon. Preserving them is a bit of a process. You have to simmer them in water for 10 mins, cool, squeeze the liquid out, then repeat. This removes the bitter flavor the latex-like sap brings. After they've been simmered this way twice they're ready to boil in a clove-spiked sugar syrup, with a little lemon at the end. Once sweetened and flavored they are a little spicy and sweet. Some say they taste like eating jam by the spoon. I use them chopped in fruit salads/compotes, sliced on top of plain cake or custard or pudding, and pureed and blended with unsweetened applesauce.
Thanks for the info.
DeleteGreat idea, Lili. I'm not sure I can come up with any brilliant ideas like that. :) I read, awhile ago, to learn to scan your environment and if something is out of place and you are heading in the general direction of its assigned location, to pick it up and take it with you. That's supposed to eliminate steps. I have tried (and sometimes succeed!) with doing this, and I do notice that it helps to keep my home tidier, with little extra effort.
ReplyDeleteLike L&L said, bar cookies are faster and easier to make. The bar cookie confused one of my son's friends when he was in middle school. I think the boy was used to eating purchased cookies, which were always round in shape. I told my son that cookies can come in many shapes, all of them tasty.
Hi Kris,
DeleteThat's a great tip! Fewer steps overall, but still a tidier home.
And I agree, any shape a cookie takes is still delicious.