Peaches!

When I was young, we traveled every other year to visit our grandparents who lived about 1500 miles away. It was more of an adventure at that time as there were not as many interstate highways built. It took us 2 1/2 days to make that drive. We always went in the summer, and surely we must have usually gone in August, because what I remember best is that there were always fresh peaches on Grandpa's peach trees. Eating those fresh peaches with cream, sugar and nutmeg was a real treat!

As an adult, I ended up living in Alaska for many years. There was NO chance of growing a peach tree there. None. The peaches in the store were not a good substitute. Did they purposefully send the nastiest, worst fruit to Alaska, knowing we'd eat it anyway? I don't know. It surely seemed like it. Certainly, the peaches were picked quite green and were tasteless and dry when we bought them.

When we left Alaska and moved to our little valley, we found the climate not exactly conducive to fruit growing. In fact, the old timers told us that the only month of the year when there had never been a frost was July. Still, we went to a local nursery which carried plants suited to our climate, where we purchased a couple of peach trees.

This year I had no hope of getting any peaches from them. June was cold and rainy...and it even frosted at least once. The areas across the mountains, where peaches usually grow much better, have a smaller than usual crop this year due to lack of pollination because of the cold and rain while they were blooming. Not a good year for fruit.

Nonetheless, we pruned our little trees, though not nearly enough as it turned out. I realized that somehow, our trees must have bloomed at just the right moment, because we had peaches....lots of peaches. All summer I have thinned and thinned and thinned them...and still there were too many peaches on the tree. Thus, they are smaller than they should be, but we intend to enjoy them. They are not dry and tasteless...they are juicy and delicious! Today we picked most of them. They have been falling to the ground for about a week, although many were not yet ripe, but I can no longer stand to watch from my window while the birds feast on them!

Tomorrow I think I'll be canning peaches!