"Peachy"

Indiana is a wonderful place to live if you like fresh produce. And we do!

I've been thinking about picking peaches since seeing that they would be available at a local orchard. We've just been waiting for them to ripen. Then rather than try to pick them ourselves I decided to go with the ones that were already picked for us. The price was close to the same either way and I thought that getting the pre-picked would save us some time (as well as the hassle of having the kids try to reach them in the trees.) This was also our first experience with peaches. So...

I called my sister-in-law Nicole and we headed out to Annie's Orchard. (The same place we picked our strawberries.) We drove fast because it was after noon and we wanted to get there before the orchard closed at 1:00pm. Unfortunately in our haste we missed the turnoff and went pretty far past our destination. We stopped, turned around and went back to where we needed to turn in the first place, questioned ourselves, turned around and headed out a little too far again, rethought things and stopped once more. Then I wised up and made a phone call to ask a friend for help. (Thanks Sarah.)

We arrived at the orchard with five minutes to spare, but the peaches they had for sale were few and far between - a couple of half bushel boxes about one third full were all that was left. I was disheartened, but figured we'd just go back and get some another day. What happened next surprised me... I don't know if it was because we weren't the only customers (another family pulled up right behind us) or if it was what she would normally do, but after asking some questions the wonderful owner sent her crew out to pick for us... The kids hardly had a chance to run around, because a mere fifteen minutes later we were on our way again; with a bushel full of peaches each!

Thank you to the people at Annie's Orchard!

 

Look at these things! I just wanted to breathe in their scent all the way home! And yes, I took that picture and it is of my peaches.

 

Bergen was the first to devour a fresh peach and she loved it so much that she had a second right after the first! We had fresh peach shakes after dinner tonight and I plan on making peach freezer jam tomorrow. Of course I'll also be slicing and freezing some on their own. Yum!

 

I'm already thinking this will become another must each summer. Oh yeah.