During the month of July, we love to travel and visit orchards for freshly picked produce. This is our favorite peach orchard.
We love it because of the delicious peaches and friendly, personal service.
As soon as you open your car door, the welcoming committee rushes out to welcome you and direct you inside.
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| Howdy! |
If you scratch them behind their ears, they will be your best friend forever, or until...
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| Ahhhhh! |
... the owner catches them inside the store.
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| My new forever friend. |
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| OUT! |
They pick the tree-ripened peaches early in the morning and put them straight into white plastic baskets. This way they are only handled once which lowers any risk of bruising. You pay for the basket, then they refund your money when you return it at the end of the season.
They are stacked on shelves and labeled according to variety. The owner has free samples so you can choose your favorite. I had no idea about the extensive difference in flavors.
It's an enormous orchard with long rows. Some people pick their own - not me - I would get lost.
I did notice something unusual this year. Normally there are people picking peaches and golf carts rushing around with overflowing baskets. The orchard was deserted and the trees were EMPTY! The peaches were on the ground, rotting, not on the trees.
If a peach touches the ground, it is not allowed to be sold.
This spring we had a late freeze which killed the blossoms on the early varieties. Next, the weather would not stop raining so dampness caused the late-blooming peaches to develop brown rot (Monolinia fructicola), a fungal disease. Ninty percent of the crop failed. The owners were devastated.
Some of the later varieties were less affected and will be ripening soon. These trees were still covered in unripe peaches. All of the trees in the orchard should look like this.
We were only allowed to buy a few baskets since they were wanted by many people. It was a disappointment. I had planned on filling up my freezer and eating them all winter. Grocery store peaches are picked green for transport and are not able to develop a delicious sweet flavor. The worst peach I have bought from this orchard tasted better than the finest peach I have ever gotten from any grocery store anywhere.
My name is on the waiting list and I hope to be able to get more. Some things are worth the drive.
UPDATE: I got the White China Pearl peaches that I love! Nagging worked!
A waiting list for peaches! They do look tasty. It's nice that they ensure everyone can get some.
ReplyDeletePeaches when tree-ripened belong to the most delicious fruits. However they are prone to
ReplyDeletedisease and very sensitive. So enjoy them as long as they are on the market!
Christel
Looks amazing! Do you can them? I can grocery store peaches, but tree-ripened must be incredible!
ReplyDeleteThey are the best tasting things you can eat. I never cared for store bought peaches but these are different. This week my favorite are due to start ripening, White China Pearl. They are mild and super sweet.
DeleteI like to freeze them for fruit salads and smoothies. Since I can't add a syrup when I can them, I use store bought unsweetened peach or apple juice instead of water. I have made jelly but my crew was not impressed. They want grape jelly on their peanut butter sandwiches. I also like to boil the pits (not the ones that have been in someone's mouth) and make an almond flavored tea. This year I wish I could can an unsweetened peach butter (just boil down and blend) but I don't know if I can buy enough. Two years ago they had a large crop and were selling the older ones cheap. I loaded up my freezer, canned as much as I could and then dehydrated the rest. So far we have only frozen a few because we are eating all of them.
I grew up on a u-pick peach farm, and continued working in the business for many years as an adult. That farm was sold many years ago, though, so those days are just a pleasant memory now. I cannot remember a time when I wasn't helping customers (not sure how helpful I was when I was little, but was certainly underfoot then). No meal was un-inturrupted during peach season. My mom somehow cooked full meals, served them, and still took turns with my dad jumping up and waiting on customers who drove into our driveway.
ReplyDeleteMy sister, however, still has her own peach orchard. I am very familiar with both the tragedy of a frozen/lost crop and brown rot. I can remember rare out-of-season rains where I sat under a tarp watching the peaches fall to the ground, as no customers wanted to pick in the rain. They had a similar thing happen to them this year where one kind froze and has a poor crop, but the later ones are in better condition.
I went to my sister's yesterday and got a few pounds of New Havens. They are an early, sweet peach that does have some firmness to them. I plan to make some jam (one of the family's favorites) and freeze some. They are done u-picking this variety so we were gleaning a few from this tree, and a few from that one--whatever the u-pickers missed. Lots of mine have big, ugly spots on them from branches rubbing, or other imperfections. So, I will get busy on them today and cut those spots out, and still have wonderful frozen peaches and jam. I feel so blessed because I can always have as many as I want--there are always tons that people miss, even on a bad year.
I will get some Improved Elbertas later on and can a few of those. I don't need a lot this year because I still have a lot leftover. Many times over the past few years, when I've been gleaning I have gotten carried away and canned SO many jars full, that I've been restraining myself a bit the last couple of years so I don't over-can and have too many to use in a timely fashion. So many of the kids are grown and gone, so we simply don't go through the 100+ quarts we used to.
I also have this mystery peach tree in my backyard that is going to ripen soon. There are some peaches, but the squirrels are stealing them one by one. I wasn't super impressed with the quality last year of that peach--I admit I'm a peach snob because I've had the luxury of being one. Still, I froze and made jam from what I got last year, and we enjoyed them that way. The kids are not picky when it comes to smoothies--and these gave a nice peach flavor to those smoothies through out the winter.
While we were up at the farm yesterday, my daughter picked a container of wild blackberries. They are lovely, big and juicy right now. She made a little crisp last night, and we froze the other 1/2 for another day.
I love this time of year, where we are constantly gathering and preserving. The garden is going strong, with new things ripening daily. The days are long, so I can pick things in daylight--good thing! I anticipate using more of my home-canned and frozen foods this coming winter than I have for a while, as the budget is going to be tight. So, I will preserve a little more than normal, but don't want to get carried away. Because I love to can, I must reign myself in a bit or I will end up with so many jars of food that we won't be able to eat them up while they are fresh. They do, however, last a few years once canned, even if they say to use it all up in the first year or 18 months. Over the years, I've helped clean out more than one basement with 10-even 20 or 30 year-old canned food in it. In fact, when we were young, I got many of my jars doing just that. The food does go bad, given enough time, so we emptied it out and cleaned out the jars, and I'm still using many of them over 30 years later.
What a pleasant childhood memory. Thank you for sharing with me because visiting an orchard was new to me until we moved to the country. It is a tradition now and I can't imagine not driving out, enjoying the scenery and then returning with a basket full of treasures.
DeleteThis orchard has about 20 different varieties and until I tasted the free samples, I had no idea there could be such a difference in flavor. Store bought peaches always taste bitter to me. Today I will call and see if any of the White Pearl are available. She has a star by my name on her long list, I insisted she give me a star, so hopefully I can get some.
Canning is work to me, I don't enjoy it but I absolutely love the flavor of the food during the long cold winter. Yesterday I made two batches of Bread and Butter pickles with the last of our cucumbers. The vines are dying from some type of wilt probably caused by the wet spring. I purchased two new hardier variety seeds and have planted them but it will be a while before they are ready. I don't have enough pickles to get us through the winter and really need more. My family loves my pickles and I aim to please!
I just got my first cucumbers this week from the pickling ones that did come up the first time I planted, so we are a bit behind your area. The slicing ones that my nephew planted using the "Jake method" are still growing and it will be a while. We burned through all the sweet pickles that I did last year, so I'm hoping to do more this year. We love pickles as well. It is hard to get enough at one time to make a batch of the sweet pickles I make, so I was delighted to get enough to get a 1/2 batch going yesterday. It's a 3-day process of dumping boiling water, then brine, over the chunks morning and evening, so I like to do a bunch at once. I was scrambling for enough for even that 1/2 batch, though, and was delighted to find a volunteer cucumber in the middle of the beans when I was picking. I grabbed that jumbo cucumber that was hiding there, and cut it into chunks, removing all seeds, and it helped a lot to bring it up to the 2-1/2 quarts I needed. The recipe calls for tiny, little cucumbers and you are supposed to leave them whole, but I never, ever get enough baby cukes for that! So, we eat chunks.
DeleteWell, I'm off to another day of preserving. It's both Rob and I taking turns taking care of Jake today, so we will get the beans canned and peach jam made between the two of us. Yesterday, Rob did all the appointments and errands with Patsy and Michaela in tow. Jake "helped" me snap beans yesterday. I think he did about 15 or 20. Every little bit helps, right? With all my "help" it took me until around 2 pm to get them snapped, and I started picking very early in the morning. That's because I needed to stop snapping and help Jake with this or that every few minutes. I could not go outside to watch the pressure cooker on the outdoor porch, and leave him inside, and it was boiling hot, so I just am going to can the beans this morning. I'm off to get good and started before he gets here! On days that he is here, he is my first priority, and any preserving is secondary, but it is good for him to see the process and be involved as much as he can and it works out for us. Otherwise, it's early mornings and late nights for me on these days. It helps that I enjoy preserving, or it would be daunting. It is still tiring, but I love having the products in the summer.
We finally had green beans for dinner last night. There weren't enough for a pot full but I used my smallest pan. They were delicious. I also picked greens for a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. The tomatoes are ready to all start ripening at once. Yesterday I counted 10 turning red. Today we have been cleaning out and throwing away. We made an other trip to the dump and this time Scooter did not make it. He threw up all over me in the backseat of the car. Oh well. I will go back to only making short trips to the mailbox.
DeleteHow sad about the damage they had. I hope there are peaches at the farmer's mkt tomorrow. I love to freeze a few while they are in season. At least you got some to eat! Hugs, Diane
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