Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Asian Pears


The first Asian pears are now at the fruit stand. In the photo above are Hosui and Kosui varieties. We have harvested Hosui, Kosui and some Twentieth Century. A lot more varieties will be coming up.

We're are almost out of Faye Alberta peaches, but Rio Oso Gem and O' Henry are being picked and sorted to sell. We expect to have peaches still for the next few weeks.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Fay Elberta Peaches






We have delicious Fay Elbertas at the fruit stand for sale. We expect that they'll last only a few more weeks at most. If you want some for canning, freezing or jam, we have lots of seconds.

Here's a good description of Fay Elbertas from localharvest.org--

"The Fay Elberta is a yellow-fleshed freestone peach. The skin is fuzzy and yellow with a red blush. The peach is firm with a fine texture, and has a spicy aroma and a rich, distinctive flavor. It ripens in early August. The Fay Elberta is a rare find in California's stone fruit regions, and is currently a threatened variety."

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Peaches


I bet you've eaten canned peaches from the store. Sweet, syrupy, and kinda crisp. But also a bit bland? All sugar and no flavor?

But maybe you've had home canned peaches. Sweet, syrupy, and with a bit of peach flavor. Maybe even a slight tang left to prove they're really a fruit?

And if you're really lucky, you've had home canned peaches made from peaches right off the tree at a local farm. Sweet, yes. Syrupy, yes. crisp... no. Succulent! Flavourful! Melts-in-your-mouth-summertime-in-a jar.

Ah.. but it's currently summer... so why am I rhapsodizing about canned peaches? There's a little peach tree in the corner of my grandmother's garden at the ranch. It's a volunteer that grew from a pit in the compost about ten years ago. It doesn't get irrigated like the rest of the orchard. And every year, it gets peach leaf curl in the spring and all its leaves fall off. And every year it has one or two small, green peaches that become small yellow fruit with reasonable flavour but not really anything we're going to sell.

Well yesterday I walked by the peach tree and saw that there were decent sized peaches on it. and I looked down and one had fallen off the tree. So I picked it up and bit into it.

Remember how I described home-canned, farm fresh peaches? Summertime in a jar? Melts in your mouth? Syrupy sweet? This peach was better.

It was tender. It dissolved in my mouth. It was sweeter than sugar syrup and yet it was juicy, not sticky. The flesh was yellow with delicate red lines shooting out from the pit. The skin of most peaches is slightly bitter and the flesh near the pit very sour but with this one, those disappeared along with the rest of the peach into my mouth, down my throat, and into my stomach.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Okra


Okra, picked and next to the plants and okra flower in the garden.
We have small quantities of okra in the fruit stand, just ask and we'll get some out for you.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Tomatoes, Garlic & Honey


We now have a wide variety of ripe tomatoes, including:

Red Tomatoes--slicing varieties and a few paste types ( Amish and San Marzano)
Heirloom Tomatoes--yellow, Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter (red), Black Prince
Cherry Tomatoes--red, yellow (sungold and snow white) and black

We also have tomatillos, (a relative of tomatoes), often used to make salsa verde.

In the picture posted above, you can also see some Chesnok Red garlic and honey that we have for sale. We have honey that bee keepers have gathered from bees living in our orchard, as well as their local honey from New Castle.

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