Crock Pots and Cherries

I love cooking in the crock pot.  It's so easy and it makes the whole house smell good all day. I've got a home raised chicken in the crock pot right now. The aroma of basil and chicken makes me even hungrier. 

I bought a box with two old crock pots in it at the auction a couple weeks ago.  The orange one is the exact same model I received as a wedding gift 35 years ago.  Using it really brings back the memories of that first year learning to cook down in Pipestone, MN.  We rented an old farmstead and got a goat and I gained about 10 pounds.

I bought the old crock pots so that I could dye wool and make soap in them.  I haven't ever tried making the hot process crock pot soap, but I hope to try it soon.  The nice thing about hot process soap is that you can use it right away, it doesn't need to cure for 4 to 8 weeks.

I have been using the old crock pots for dyeing felted scarves and my Shetland Mule combed top.  It's so easy!  I just put warm water in, add a little citric acid and turn it on high.  Then I add the wool. After about 30-40 minutes I add the dye powder and poke it around a little. I leave it on high for about another 45 mintues and then remove it with tongs and let it cool before rinsing it out.  The water remaining in the crock pot is clear (the dye exhausts completely) and it's ready for the next batch of wool to go in to soak.  I've done two colors at the same time in the crock pot it's kind of small so you have to be careful not to stir too much.  These are just single color braids that I made the other day.

Our little cherry tree is laden with fruit this year - sorry for the blurry photo here.  I'm not sure when I should pick the cherries though.  The birds will be happy to do that for me if I wait too long.  Should I just pick the reddest ones? Or can I pick the orange ones and let them ripen indoors away from the birds?