
Fruit Picker Head
This tool article comes with a story:
Every time LaVille and I are at home for lunch we have a huge salad. It is basically a salad made with chicken and romaine lettuce. The chicken is strips of meat cut off a Costco rotisserie chicken. I call it “carcass chicken”. The final carcass, by the way, is never wasted. After 2 or 3 carcasses accumulate in the freezer, they are boiled in a pot that is first used to caramelize an onion and diced carrots and celery. While boiling, crushed pepper corns and celery are added. After 3 or 4 hours of slow boiling the mixture is poured into a colander and the liquid collected. After the liquid cools and is then refrigerated, the solidified fat is scooped off the surface. This chicken stock forms the basis for making various kinds of soups that are the mainstay of our evening meals.
But I digress—back to the salad: To the mixture of lettuce and chicken meat, we add a great number of things: chopped walnuts, raisins, Craisins , grapes which have been cut in half so they won’t roll off the fork, tomato, cucumber, green onion, red or yellow bell pepper, sliced boiled egg, apple, avocado, and mushrooms. Now, admittedly, not every one of these items is added every time, but what really adds a punch is pieces of fresh orange. Here’s the problem: All of the oranges on our orange tree have been picked . . . but there are still oranges on our neighbor’s tree and it is right next to the fence that divides our yards. I have found that the fruit picker that I bought at a garage sale years ago works really well to pick off one orange each day to add that extra treat to our salads.
Now if your neighbor’s trees are away from the fence, you should consider ordering a pole that is extendable. If you google “fruit picker head” on Amazon, you will find the basket alone costs only $8. It should attach to an old broom or mop stick. The extendable pole can be found at the same site for about $26.
If your neighbor’s trees are really far from the fence, I suggest you invest in a good 6 foot ladder and dark clothing for night time harvesting. A black hoody would be appropriate. I always prefer fiberglass ladders. They are more stable than aluminum and will last you a lifetime, which may be shortened if you slip and get impaled on the fence. That reminds me of our visit to Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania when we were learned about Vlad The Impaler—not a nice guy. But then that’s a whole different story that you don’t want to think about while eating your healthy salad.
Stan, The Tool Man
Addendum: You know, it’s rather embarrassing when you are trying to remove a stubbornly held orange from a neighbor’s tree, and the picker head comes off and hangs there like some sort of a weird out of season Xmas ornament. Make sure you tighten the hose clamp securely to your pole . . . or you’ll just be standing there with a stick in your hand . . . like I said . . . rather embarrassing.