I followed through on my intentions of an annual peach picking excurison for the Hazelwood House, and we went back to Suzanne's Fruit Farm for some tree ripened peaches.
We went first thing in the morning. It was overcast and cooler, with a storm thundering in the background. We were some of the first people there. It was a pleasantly peaceful morning. I don't get many of those. A good cup of coffee and a park bench would have made it perfect. I wish we had lingered a little bit longer.
We picked two varieties: Goldhaven and White Peaches. This is a white one. They were much firmer and sweeter than the traditional golden ones but didn't quite taste like a peach to me. Still very good.
I have a little secret to share. It might come as a surprise to those of you who know me, but I have a dream of owning a little farm (even after a very brief jaunt of working on one) and having an orchard - with peach trees of course. I would also have a cute roadside stand and I would wear cute aprons and make jelly and pies and people would drive from all around. (Can you see the daydreaming fog around me now?) Maybe that can be my "retirement" project. I will have to acquire a much greener thumb for that dream to work.
It did not take long to fill that bucket - maybe 5 minutes. No joke.
They were very large peaches. I usually prefer smaller fruit because as a general rule, smaller fruit and veggies are more tender. It was a difficult task to find one smaller than your fist.
They were weighing the branches down hanging off the trees...
As were the plums.
We picked a small bucket of them but they were not good for simply eating. They either rotted or were hard as rocks and SOUR. I ended up boiling them all and making jelly. I also
made some peaches into jelly, and froze 4 quarts of the peaches because we could not eat them fast enough. But that is what happens when you have 50 lbs of peaches.
Another year towards a budding dream and our developing tradition. Here's to many more ...
1 comment:
how fun! I think that kind of farming would be a "little" different than what you did before. ;) I see the "dream" and it looks like you to me. Go for it!
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