I mentioned yesterday to Kawasaki-san that the monkeys were snacking on the Kobayashi mikan. I’d seen them in the tree and found orange peels scattered around the garden.
When the monkeys start eating your fruit, it is probably ripe. Not one to put things off, the Kawasakis turned up this morning to harvest. I grabbed my long pole fruit cutter from the Tractorport and we went at it.
I don’t know if the telescoping tool we have is a global standard, but everyone here uses them. They let you get the fruit in the high branches by positioning the scissor-jaw around the fruit’s stem and squeezing the handle. If you’ve turned the tool the right way around, it cuts the stem and holds the fruit firmly. If you did it backwards, the fruit plummets to the ground.
It took us less than an hour to strip the tree of 90% of the fruits. There were a few oranges tucked deep in upper foliage that none of us could get an angle on and we left some LHF for later. The tree (on the left above) looks naked now especially compared to the natsumikan next to it.
While we worked, the monkeys were in the woods behind us making loud noises of disapproval. There were hoots and clicks and lots of tree shaking. It was intimidating, but not enough to stop us.
Now it is time for the first fruit work of the year. I will keep some to eat fresh, make some into jam, and share lots with my friends.
