There are three ume trees in our garden.

This year, all of them have a lot of ume.

On the weekend, my two-year-old and four-year-old grandchildren came to visit and found the green ume hanging in abundance.

They couldn’t wait to harvest the ume.

As soon as they saw me, they shouted, “Give us a bowl. We want to pick ume!”

Without a rest, we headed to the garden.

They, their dad, mom, grandpa, and I each took a bowl and harvested the ume with enthusiasm.

The grandchildren picked ume from the lower branches, their mom and I the middle ones, their dad the upper ones, and grandpa climbed a ladder to pick the highest ones. 

After about an hour, we had only harvested about a third of the ume.

Even the grandchildren were getting tired, so we stopped.

The next day, the grandchildren woke up at 6 a.m. Their first words were, “Let’s pick ume !” 

After breakfast, we picked ume again. 

We harvested everything within reach. 

The grandchildren looked very satisfied. 

I was grateful for this happy time spent picking ume with my grandchildren. 

For a snack, we had honey-pickled ume from last year.

The grandchildren ate two each, and  they said “Delicious!” 

How healthy!

The next day, my husband and I harvested the rest of ume. We were so exhausted we could barely stand. 

We harvested about 60 kilograms in total.

What to do with all the ume? 

I will make ume syrup/concentrated ume juice, ume wine, pickled ume, and ume vinegar, but there was too much work to handle myself. 

We gave a lot of our ume to many friends. 

I hope the ume from our home will be enjoyed and made into delicious dishes in the homes of those who received them.