August peaches hanging heavy
Soft as down and sticky sweet
Large and small hands reach to take them
Pie and jam and cobbler make them
Fairest summer treat
Looks like it's not going to be a terrific year for our peaches - but if we get enough to make one more pie and some jam I'll be happy. If the BEAR will leave the darned tree alone! These photos were taken in prior years (including 2006 when I had a baby helping me)
(poetry by me, and I am random as heck when it comes to meter)
Is it possible to eat peaches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (in the name of science!)? In this essay I will
HELL YEAH for SCIENCE!!
@howshouldibegin please tell the class more about the peach glaze recipe !!
So yesterday I freakin’ exhausted myself prepping, cooking, and canning peaches. I did achieve a lovely Impossible pie (it has a Bisquik batter instead of crust). I experimented with just leaving the peel on the peach, and it worked out fine. That was a big time-saver.
Then I prepped 3 quarts of chopped or pureed peaches (again, left *some* of the peels on) for jam.
That was 3 q peach, 3 cups of sugar, and Pomona’s pectin (my absolute fav) I got nine pints of delicious jam.
Good, lord, friends, I checked those peaches we picked Tuesday. They still felt a bit too firm, but I cut one open and AAAAAAA juice ran out in a sticky stream! It was ripe and sweet and glorious. Oooh, boy, it's going to be a busy day. Daughter and I will go back and pick the remaining peaches from the tree, then start processing the ones that are already here. Peach jam, pie, and possibly peach butter*.
We picked roughly thirty pounds of peaches this morning (on TOP OF the ones we picked Tuesday). (That’s about 13.5 kg)
After completely stripping the tree, K reminded me that we had not actually completed our thinning project way back when. The third and final tree, which ripens in September, still has wayyyyy to many half-size green peaches on it. We took the time to thin that as best we could. However, there was a large branch that we could not reach at all. Weather permitting, we will take Hero back down there this evening and use him as a mobile, all-terrain ladder. I’ll hold him while K finishes the thinning from his back.
Girl, Help!
Never mind, I’ve got this.
Good, lord, friends, I checked those peaches we picked Tuesday. They still felt a bit too firm, but I cut one open and AAAAAAA juice ran out in a sticky stream! It was ripe and sweet and glorious. Oooh, boy, it's going to be a busy day. Daughter and I will go back and pick the remaining peaches from the tree, then start processing the ones that are already here. Peach jam, pie, and possibly peach butter*.
Well, the good news is, peaches.
The bad news is, when the earlier tree got a-l-m-o-s-t ripe, a bear took every single peach and also broke a large branch. These aren't ripe (even though the color is perfect?), but we harvested a big bag and bigger basket today to get ahead of the bear. If they are still there in two days, we'll strip the rest of the tree. My daughter and I painstakingly thinned out the overcrowded peaches last month, and I hope we get a sweet reward for that work! The ones we picked today will likely ripen sitting at room temperature on my table. They won't be as perfect as tree-ripened, but still better than the ones from the store.
shoot, I forgot - here’s the ridge road.
The road is in good shape here, but terribly washed out and rutted in other places. The poor old truck bounced and rattled all the way up and down.
Well, the good news is, peaches.
The bad news is, when the earlier tree got a-l-m-o-s-t ripe, a bear took every single peach and also broke a large branch. These aren't ripe (even though the color is perfect?), but we harvested a big bag and bigger basket today to get ahead of the bear. If they are still there in two days, we'll strip the rest of the tree. My daughter and I painstakingly thinned out the overcrowded peaches last month, and I hope we get a sweet reward for that work! The ones we picked today will likely ripen sitting at room temperature on my table. They won't be as perfect as tree-ripened, but still better than the ones from the store.
