August 17

Cloudy days, cold nights

I took this photo of a Gala apple this morning, the apples are coming along nicely. The peaches not so much. The sky's cloudy and overcast, the nights are in the 40s! This morning when I took these shots, it was still only 48° — not for the first morning recently either.

Long story short, the weather we are having now slows down sugar development in the fruit. Our peaches have good color, but are rock hard and not sweet yet. It will happen! We are eager to fill our mouths with flavor-popping sweet peaches while dripping juices over the sink, and to legislate a "ten peaches per day" rule.

We've checked with our neighboring orchardists to reassure ourselves. Their peaches are not ready yet either. And so we wait for this August period of fall chill to end and the long sunny warm days of Indian summer to arrive.

This is a good kind of insect shown pollinating a squash blossom. We installed two more hives below the cherries recently. Look for honey at our market stand in a couple of weeks!

How we capture the sun

One of our orchardist friends says that we are "farming the sun." When we prune the fruit trees we are mindful that each fruiting branch receive maximum possible sunshine. Grape canopies are trimmed to allow sun to penetrate the hanging clusters and cordons, or arms. Without direct sun fruit buds won't form to bear the following year.

So how do we capture that sun? One way is to rob the bees who are experts at transforming flower nectar into honey! Recently I extracted summer honey, a sweet liquid sunshine!

Another way is to preserve the fruit for a rainy day. Last week I made Cherry Preserves and I have Ginger Peach Butter from last season's cooking frenzy that's scrumptious as well. It's loaded with the peach flavors we're waiting for now.

This Wednesday, you will receive a jar of honey or certified organic Cherry Preserves or certified organic Ginger Peach Butter when you pick up your vegetable share.

For those of you who are picking up only fruit shares with us, we will not be at the market this Wednesday but will have your jar next Wednesday when we expect to arrive with fresh fruit as well, and maybe an extra something for the wait.

Pick a good peach and treat it right

I've heard stories and seen peaches in this year's marketplace that are green. I know there are some farmer's who want the premium price of an early harvest whether their produce is ready or not, but we prefer good customer relationships instead. How to pick a good peach and treat it right?

• If it has the slightest tinge of green anywhere, don't buy it. It will never ripen properly.
• If you can depress the shoulder, (area at the top of peach surrounding the stem) with a firm but light touch, this peach is close to ripe or ripe. Experience is the best teacher here. Don't squeeze or poke a peach anywhere else, peaches are fragile.
• Store peaches at near freezing (colder than most fridges) or room temperature. Otherwise the "dead temp zone" will turn your peach into a mealy bland spheroid beyond consumption.

All the best, Max & Wink.