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Pear Tree Chronicles, Album: 2010 in life of century old tree

Jim and Sharon Whitehurst spied the old timey pear tree before they bought the Haskell Rogers place in Gradyville, KY, from J.M. Shelley. She kept a diary of the tree through 2010, from its leafless winter stage through spring glory, the summer, and the fall fruit, to finally, the treasured tree in late fall, leafless and looking vulnerable, but loved, just the same.
Click on headline for full story plus over 15 photos

By Sharon Whitehurst

Haskell Rogers believes that the pear tree is at least 100 years old. Haskell told us that his family moved to the Gradyville neighborhood from Metcalfe County when he was a boy and the pear tree was already a noticeable landmark.

He calls it an "old-timey pear", a name which I have heard when speaking with a number of older area residents.



Haskell also referred to it as a "winter pear" and stated that he was sometimes able to enjoy the fresh pears as late as Christmas time by wrapping the best ones in newspaper and laying them on a basement shelf.

We salvaged the last of this year's harvest in November, turning them into a batch of pear honey.

Again it was Haskell who explained how to make this preserve. He had used an electric sausage grinder to reduce the pears to small bits, added "a little sugar" and cooked them down.

I found several recipes on-line, but ended up experimenting. I put the quartered pears through a hand-cranked food grinder, added some pineapple juice and about half as much sugar as any recipe called for. After hours of simmering and stirring we called the pear honey good.

Doing a Google search for "old-timey pear" I found the following which may be relevant:
Appalachian Home Cooking: History, Culture, and Recipes
University Press of Kentucky, 2005

Excerpted form pgs 145-146:
In addition to apple and peach trees, hill country highlanders grew pears.....Even today many small farms have a number of apple trees, but just an occasional pear tree. Frequently, the pear is a Kieffer. Today's highlanders know Kieffers as old-timey pears, and they flourish here because they are robust and blight-resistant. They bear young and are available as semi-dwarfs...many lingering homesteads are marked by a single Kieffer pear tree growing in a field or near a chimney. Kieffer pears are hard, hearty, coarse and gritty. The skins are rough and the centers firm. The fruit is crunchy, juicy, and slightly sweet.
I went on to search using 'Kieffer pear" as my keyword.

I found that various nurseries all over the southern US offer the Kieffer pear, in standard, semi-dwarf and dwarf varieties.

Their descriptions seem to tally with the vintage pear on our Gradyville acreage.

We would be interested in feed-back from fruit tree growers in the area or folks that have a similar tree. We've also wondered if there are any folks around that have experience in fruit tree grafting.

It would be good to think that offspring from this particular grand old tree would continue to flourish.


This story was posted on 2010-12-31 03:38:28
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Pear Tree Chronicle: Old tree standing sentinel



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
March 3, 2010: "We first viewed this property on Old Gradyville Rd the evening before, which was also our first meeting with J.M. Shelley. We noted the towering old tree standing sentinel in the field. J.M. told us that he had purchased the farm at auction in September and shortly thereafter the pears were ready to harvest. We came back the next morning, March 3, to go over the property again in daylight, knowing that we had found the place we would buy." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicle: Coming into bloom



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
April 3, 2010: Pear tree coming into bloom.-Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles : Closeup of blossoms



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY.
April 4, 2010: "Closeup of blossoms." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: Another closeup of blossoms



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KYApril 4, 2010 "Another close up of blooms." -Sharon Whitehurst
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Pear Tree Chronicles: In full bloom



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
April 5, 2010: "The tree in full and fragrant bloom, photo taken just after sunset." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: First visit from Haskell Rogers



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
May 3, 2010: "Our first visit from Haskell Rogers, right who, with his late wife Jerry Baker Moss Rogers, lived here. Haskell took us around the dooryard pointing out various trees and shrubs and perennials that he and Jerry had tended." -Sharon Whitehurst Haskell Rogers believes the old pear tree is over 100 years old.

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The Pear Tree Chronicles: Small pears



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
June 2, 2010: "The small pears are growing." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: Rough-skinned pears



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whtehurst. Gradyville, KYAugust 22, 2010: "A cluster of rough-skinned pears." -Sharon Whitehurst
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Pear Tree Chronicles: Cluster of pears



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. By Sharon Whitehurst
August 22, 2010: "A cluster of rough-skinned pears on a drooping branch." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: Sun washed



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
September 22, 2010: "Morning sun washing the pears with golden light." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: Ground covered



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
September 26, 2010: "The ground was covered with fallen pears." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: Pebbles dines



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
October 23, 2010: "Pebbles, our old horse, crunching windfall pears. We kept a basket of them in the barn and she begged shamelessly for a 'treat' whenever we walked by." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: Canned Pears



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
October 24, 2010: Thirty (30) quarts of canned pears. A sticky day's work! We canned about 50 quarts, gave away many pears!" -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: A basket gathered to ripen



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
October 24, 2010: "Basket of pears to be stored in the basement until ripe." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: A few pears hang on



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
November 14, 2010: "A few pears still clinging to the old tree." -Sharon Whitehurst

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Pear Tree Chronicles: A vulnerable treasure



2010-12-31 - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst. Gradyville, KY
November 14, 2010: "The age and vulnerability of the pear tree is apparent as it stands, rusty-leaved, on a cold and rainy morning." -Sharon Whitehurst

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