35 Pounds of Peaches

Peach pie, peach cobbler, peach ice cream, peach sauce, peach jam, peach salsa, peach smoothies, peach gumbo - with 35 plus pounds of peaches sitting on our kitchen counter, we've pretty much committed ourselves to learning to make just about everything one can make with peaches. So - any peach recipes are welcome.

We ended up with more peaches than we could possibly need because we got ourselves caught up in the peach mania of Orchard Annie's Annual Peach festival in Willcox, Arizona. It was a ton of fun. Once you get there, they outfit you with empty buckets and a peach picker, which is basically a broomstick that has a wire basket attached to the end, allowing you to reach the highest, juiciest peaches. Then, they pile a ton of people in a little wagon and a tractor takes you out to the peach grove, where the picking begins. In a matter of 20 minutes, we managed to load up two 5 gallon buckets with peaches. In the pic to the right, you can see me reaching for a real fatty. We shelled out just over 40 bucks for 35 pounds of peaches - a pretty good deal I'd say. We've just got to hurry up and do something with them. Don't be surprised if you find a jar of jam in the mail.

After picking our own produce, we moved on to another event in the same town - we visited the Coronado Vineyards for their grape stomp festival. We tasted their wines, and Bergie stomped the hell out of some grapes. Their wines were pretty crappy, but it turned out to be a good stop. We sat out on their patio and had a picnic - some bread, cheese, and of course, peaches. It was a beautiful spot.

That was basically our Saturday. Today, we got up early and went for a bike ride. Riding bikes around here is super cool, because as you roll, little desert critters are constantly scurrying across the path in front of you. The quail are my favorite - they look hilarious as they scoot across the path. And all the little lizards are fun, too. We've yet to actually see the scorpions, snakes, and tarantulas we've been warned about, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

It is 104 degrees outside today, so we're giong to spend the remainder of the day indoors. Everyone says, "but it's a dry heat." And while it's true that less humidity helps, when it's 104, it's just damned hot.

That's it for today. Hope you all are well.

The Godfreys

P.S. Arizona is a state of mind.