Friday, August 16, 2013

The Last Peach

I almost didn't want to eat it. It was the first year for peaches for me and I'm sad to see them go. But if I let it sit on the counter any longer it would have gone bad. It was a wonderful peach. Maybe not a Georgia peach, but for New England it was very good. Juicy and sweet. The peaches were a lot of work, but they were worth it.

In the spring I started an experiment with covering the peaches with a footie to prevent insects from attacking it. Well the covered ones all got brown rot. And the uncovered ones had no insects. They did have a few bird pecks. I ought to cover the tree with netting starting at the beginning of July. And I won't use footies. But all in all the New Red Haven tree preformed like a star. It was just its third year. Even with the massive losses due to the squirrels and brown rot, I picked 20 beautiful large peaches. The Reliance peach tree still hasn't produced. Well that is not really true. There is one peach on the tree right now. A very tiny little peach. It bloomed weeks later than the other tree. I got two varieties of peach trees to let them cross pollinate each other. Not that they need it but it supposedly makes them fruit better. The New Red Haven tree fruited so much I had to pull about 2/3s of the little fruit off during thinning. I don't think it needs any help.

The corn also had a transition of sorts. I sowed two beds with them. Last night the last corn from the first sowing was eaten. The next bed is just starting to get ripe. On Saturday I'll go out and check to see if we have any ready. But weirdly enough, I'm ready for a corn break. I've been eating about two ears of corn every night for a while now. But give me a couple of days and I'll want to eat them again.

And I finally had enough beans to make some three bean salad. I used the Ball Book recipe. Sort of. I left out the peppers of course. And I hate lima beans and don't grow them. I used Calypso beans instead. They are also called Yin Yang beans for their black and white markings. When they cook down they retain the markings, but they fade to brown. I wish my black beans had been ready in time, but they are still ripening. I don't have kidney beans or chickpeas, which are also traditional. I ended up with six jars, but one of them didn't seal so it didn't get its photo taken.

This afternoon I made another batch of zucchini bread. I used my traditional recipe but added two squares of baker's chocolate. I also left out the nutmeg, cloves, and allspice, but left in the ginger and cinnamon. It doesn't have all the chocolate chips of the other recipe so isn't as chocolatey. In fact it doesn't look like it has chocolate at all in it. It smells wonderful though. I can't wait to try it.

10 comments:

  1. I used to have an Early Elberta peach tree that had early (duh) fruit and abundant crops. It was suffering from peach tree borer, but it still pumped out those peaches like crazy. Even after thinning, I had to prop the limbs up with boards to keep them from breaking under the weight. And goooood! Sweet and juicy, and came free from the pit so easily. One day Mr. Granny went out and cut it down. I was so upset, but he insisted it was dying. It probably was, but it might have taken it another five or ten years. I never forgave him for it!

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  2. Peach looks so luscious! yum! I could just pick it up from the picture and eat it up! I haven't any peach trees, but I can relate as I an Alderman plum tree with close to a dozen plums this year.

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  3. The peach looks delicious to the very last bite. What a wonderful harvest. A little taste of what is to follow in the upcoming years.

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  4. Oh that peach looks yummy! I like the idea of the three bean salad! Does it need to be pressure canned?

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    1. No it is actually technically pickled so a water bath canner is enough.

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  5. I'd like to have peaches but two apple trees are all I have room for and I'm hoping they will set the first apples next season. Next year you should get even more peaches.

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  6. I'm still waiting on our Red Haven tree to produce. It had a few peaches this year but they dropped. We have a white fleshed one also. So we bought peaches. There's nothing like a homegrown tree-ripened peach!

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  7. We like bean salad but I am wondering if that would taste like the kind that you don't can and has the oil in it? Do you add oil when you eat it or just eat it like that? I have the recipe in my little Ball Blue book too. Your peach tree has done so well. Maybe some year my peach tree limb will produce something! It is an Elberta peach so maybe I planted the wrong kind. My Hosui Asian pear fruit looks great so far! The Chojuro Asian pears not so good. Not sure when you pick pears. Guess I will have to google it! Bread looks yummy! Nancy

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    1. I'm not sure. I've never canned three bean salad before. I'm guessing I'll drain it and add a bit of oil though.

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  8. hello daphne,
    your peaches looking wonderful. i have this year also planted a peach tree. i hope for fruit in the next year.
    you are very busy!! the zucchini bread looks very yummy!!!
    have a nice week,
    regina

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