Aug 21 2013
Evolution
Or how to make the world’s most expensive peach pie!
First, you plant the peach tree:
Keep in mind that this simple statement includes:
- Getting your friend and neighbor to come over with his heavy machinery
- Scrobbling up all the brush and bushes
- Removing hundreds of rootballs by hand (the very definition of back-breaking labor)
- Buying truckloads of dirt
- Spreading out truckloads of dirt by hand
- Spreading hay all over the dirt and planting vetch so it won’t blow away
Easy, right? And this list does not include minor details like installing a drip system to keep the trees watered; installing and cementing heavy fence posts; deer fencing the entire operation; and rabbit fencing, another grovelly step done on hands and knees.
Once all that’s done, you just have to wait for the tree to bloom:
Fortuately, the strawberry plants at the tree’s feet bloom and fruit before the peach tree. This year, there was even a second crop of strawberries, so we had peaches and strawberries at the same time.
Finally, the tree begins to fruit:
And then the peaches are ready to be picked:
Megan and Jonathan made eight pounds of peaches into jam, with roasted almonds and lemon thyme. It is amazing!
I settled for making a pie with the remaining peaches:
It’s wonderful to pick fruit and make it into pie within an hour. It doesn’t get fresher than that!
4 Responses to “Evolution”
Agreed, lots of preparation and work involved before one can eat the pie but all of your love and labor you all share make the earth rich and thick so that that new fruit will come forth every summer, just look at the final results, priceless.
wow – those peaches look perfect! It’s so hard to find properly ripe peaches in the stores/markets… I’m jealous you get to eat them at the peak of ripeness!
So by “comforting” you mean I kicked her a**, told her to suck it up and deal, and generally was a hard cold lady about it, right? Man, my comfort is rough 😉 xoxo!
Gah, somehow I left that comment on e wrong page, ack! Stupid WordPress reader.