Shortly after Mrs Krink and I married we got a "Frost Peach" tree as a gift. Of course it was scrawny thing to begin with. Growing peaches on the west side of the Cascade range is not something most entertain. Eastern Washington has a lot of peach tree farms and the stores around here reflect that. Well our/mine peach tree grew up to be quite a producer. A Frost Peach is not your local supermarket "freestone" variety. The freestone peach is one you merely cut in half and the pit/stone just pops out. With the Frost Peach you need to work a bit harder to get the pit/stone to come out. The Frost Peach likes to bloom in the last two weeks of March when pollinating insects are hit and miss. It can be raining or even snowing at that time, cold. But somehow every year is different. One year you can get a dozen peaches on the the tree or 200. Of course this year is another 200 peach crop. I have to force myself these days to do all the food preserving that I did in the past. It's very hard for me to leave a money crop of peaches just rot. Today I made two batches of peach jam and there is still a 100 more peaches to "make" something out of. I've made peach syrup many times and that's an option. I've got got canned peaches from 2004 and 2007 still in my fruit room that I've never ate. Peaches are so messy to deal with. If you've ever canned peaches you will know this. It's just going to be a case when I awake in the next couple days whether I want to tackle this bounty or not. I also got 2 gallon ziplocks of green beans to snap and can tu.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
Well I spent 3 long days trying to preserve somehow my bountiful peach harvest. I estimate the tree had over 150 peaches on it. Probly 50-60 peaches hit the ground from either a blue jay poking at it or rot. I'm organic 100% and I don't spray anything on the tree. A lot of various conditions manifest themselves on peaches in real life. Some rot prematurely, some grow weird, some grow with an open orafice where earwigs like to camp out in. Some never ripen and stay green. A peach harvest is very complex at least with my tree. A peach does not like to rest on anything. In a matter of a couple days a peach resting on cardboard can start to mold or rot. 3/4ths of a peach is usable or the top half is green and the bottom half is perfect. It's a nightmare when you haul these things into the house and start working with your knife. I think at least a dozen I twisted open were full of earwigs. They don't scare me but it's a nuisance. Carving away brown spots or rot spots or green hard as a rock portions is all part of the deal. Plus you have to work fast because because cut up peach portions tend to brown quickly. I use a large bowl of water with a fresh lemon juice to keep the browning from happening. It's a frantic couple hours at the kitchen sink and a mess that defies most kitchen messes. Got to have all your jars and lids ready in hot water. I wrestled with myself whether I wanted to go through all this again this year but I caved in. Been doing this for a decade or more and I just can't let a good harvest go to waste. The picture has 7 quarts of sliced peaches, 13 jars of peach jam, and 6 pints of peach syrup. I tell you that peach syrup is "killer".
-- Edited by The Krink on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 03:44:44 AM
I'm all done for this year Tu but will keep your suggestion on file for next year. I'm going to do some serious pruning on my tree soon. Maybe next year I'm only looking at 60-70 peaches.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
The tree was in a 5 gallon bucket and not that big, maybe 4-5 feet tall. Took a couple years I think before we got our first peaches. My memory is a bit hazy. Do know when you get a peach tree established, it will crank out more peaches than you can handle. One tree is enough for sure.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
