Peach Picking

Wow- It's been so long that either my internet is freaking out and not displaying the page properly or Blogger has gone ahead and changed their software! I guess this kind of thing happens in the summer when every free weekend fills up in about June and you rarely get a day off. It's been busy, loud and awesome. My parents were in town- my mom still is. My sister came to visit. My aunt will be here soon and we've been eating very, very well.

That's the great thing about having a mother who loves to cook but who lives with no access to a real kitchen- lots of ambitious and delicious meals! In fact we attempted maybe THE most ambitious meal recently and she swears that she clocked in 35 hours of kitchen prep during the week leading up to the meal. I don't doubt her- the woman was on fire. I'm still waiting to get pictures back, but it's coming. Let's just say that it may have been round 2 of this birthday dinner.

Our most recent adventure out into the plains of Virginia was to Hollins farm to do some peach pickin'. 

Have you ever gone peach picking before? I hadn't. I didn't really know what to expect so I wore sensible shoes and clothes, expecting the need to shimmy up trees for the ripest peaches and I braced myself for some over-heating. And you know what? It was nothing like that. 

For one- Peach trees aren't that tall. For 2- It's so damn pleasant to pick peaches! Everything is within reach and it's almost entirely shaded. 

Plus- isn't there a peach picking party in either Oklahoma! or Gone with the Wind? I can't remember and the internet isn't telling me! But I can totally see why this would be a good activity for dainty Southern Bells. 

We may have illegally eaten our weight in peaches... but their skins were bruised and they would have been tossed anyway.. at least that's my story.

We also found the elusive blackberry bush and went to town trying to pluck only the ripe ones. Who knew it wasn't quite blackberry season in Virginia? I thought it was almost over!

 The peaches were made into 3 different batches of jam and a Bourbon Caramel Peach Pie, while the blackberries were meant for another pie that didn't quite work out... More pie making to come- I'm planning on entering the state fair this year! I could be getting way in over my head, but it'll be a good excuse to make lots and lots of PIE!