It's Raining Peaches!

 I may be the only person eagerly following the growth, drama and successes of my peach tree... and that's ok too.

Remember, this tree is just 6 years old. And a year ago, with little fruit not eaten by squirrels, but plenty of leaves to boast about, it suffered with snow in summer and a catastrophic branch amputation. 

Winter was tough and spring brought more heavy snow as well as one of the wettest seasons I've ever experienced here. 

Between blizzards (including "snowmageddon") our stubborn peach tree blossomed and we watched bee's eagerly pollinating while crossing our fingers that the next storm wouldn't destroy the flowers before they had a chance to become little fruit embryos.

TWO hail storms in one week!

Success... by early summer we were seeing almond-sized green peach babies. They grew about as fast as a human baby and I became convinced that it would take nine months to produce an edible peach. To put it in perspective, we are awaiting the birth of next fur baby and call me crazy, but the fact that golden retriever puppies take only about 62 days to gestate, while our peaches were closer to 6 months is just a tad weird, right?!

By early September our half-sized peaches were still rock hard but beginning to blush. At this time we realized we had WAY more peaches than we'd anticipated. We had also discovered that 2 things are crucial when it comes to dissuading your squirrels from biting into and then discarding, green peaches. 

1. Not one, but two young cats in the yard. Both enthusiastic about chasing squirrels away and one of which appears to be part monkey!

2. Bird feeders that a continually loaded with hulled sunflower seeds - Squirrel-proof bird feeders but with birds messy enough to chuck half of their seeds onto the ground so our squirrels were never hungry and hardly motivated to try their hand at green peaches this year. 

Despite letting our greed run the show and ultimately allow too many peaches which overwhelmed another branch to the point of destruction, we have a lot to be grateful for. 

It is with great pleasure and a satiated belly, that I show you "harvest" pics now. 

And perhaps what you've really been waiting for... Did we waste any? Have TOO many to handle? 

Heck no! The neighbors got peaches, my dentist office, builder, friends, airbnb guests and even the mail carrier got fresh peaches. Uh-huh... they do taste better than Western Slope peaches! Juicy, concentrated peachy flavor that runs down ones face and hands and sprays all over the show when you bite into the fruit. It doesn't get any better than that. 

As for "dealing with" peaches that were harvested early from the downed branch, harvested daily after that to lighten the load on remaining branches and then harvested at the peak of ripeness - we worked hard  and wasted little. Yes it was a full time job for a few days.

Frozen Peaches

Bottled Peaches

Spicy Peach Salsa

Cardamom Peach Compote (for French toast, waffles, pancakes, ice cream and more!)

Peachy Smoothies

Fish Tacos with Peach Salsa

And today the hens arrived. No surprise, but they also love a little peach in their diet. Will I get peach flavored eggs? Time will tell. 

Last word: It does appear that if you hug peaches to your body during the harvest, the peach fuzz will get to you, even through your t-shirt. After a couple of days I began to get a light pink rash where the little hairs had irritated my skin on my belly and forearms. My tongue was also feeling a bit raw. Nothing that can't be fixed by using a basket and by peeling one's fruit before eating... but it's fair to say that learning to be a hobby farmer has been trial and error.