Persimmon Picking.

It's persimmon season in Azerbaijan, and when Kaklik told me she didn't think she'd be able to sell her persimmons this year because she's too old to climb up and pick the fruit at the top of the trees, I thought I may be of some assistance. I wasn't sure exactly what I was getting myself into, but I made a little routine to kind of make a game out of it.  

Step 1: Identify the spot with an abundance of persimmons. 

Step 2: Strategically position the ladder. 

Step 3: Climb up, rig your bucket on a sturdy branch, and began picking. Worry about sorting ripe/unripe/fit to be sold/unfit to be sold persimmons later. 

 Step 4: Don't fall off the ladder.

Step 5: Repeat Step 4.

Step 6: When your bucket's full, carefully unrig it from the tree and bring it down the ladder wrung by wrung. Secure your persimmons so they don't fall out of the bucket on the way down.  

Step 7: Carefully empty your bucket without bruising the fruit and spread out your persimmons bottom side up so you can tell if they're ripe. Persimmons with a big, black spot on the bottom are ripe. Fit to be sold persimmons are those that are unscathed and not quite ripe yet.

Step 8: Continue picking from your spot until you've picked all of the persimmons within your reach. Reposition the ladder and repeat!

Together, Kaklik and I gathered 19 crates worth of fit to be sold persimmons. She picked the fruit she could reach from the ground, while I scoured the tree tops. They were sold to men from our village who take them north to Russia to be sold there.  We set the rest aside to give to our neighbors, eat ourselves, or take back to compost.