At mass we ran into a friend who also has girlies from the other side of the world, and we invited her along. Flash forward to an hour later - we're all packed in our cars and stop for lunch provisions. After an unpleasant encounter with a woman who was upset by my need to use the microwave at Whole Foods.....the public microwave that is there for the customers....I can't even go into this unpleasantness as I will get rattled all over again.....we finally were on our way.
First I will tell you that our go-to farm is a place called Jones Family Farm. Its in Connecticut and we love it. We cut down our Christmas tree there most years, and they have a very organized berry picking procedure, complete with a "berry ferry" and assigned interns out in the fields directing you to fruit laden bushes of your own - PLUS they have water stations so you don't get dehydrated, due to your own forgetfulness. They have a daily recorded message on their phone line from "Farmer Jones" - he sounds like a folksy kind of a guy who is pleased as punch you're calling and wants to give you the highlights. It's corny, it's charming, and we love it.
Jones' was not open today.....bummer. Last night the Husband did the research and we narrowed down our choices between two other farms we'd patronized before for both berries and apples. Somehow the decision was made to go to Fishkill Farms in NY. We'd been there many years with friends on big apple picking trips. As we turned into the dusty driveway I glanced at the sign that listed Peaches and Nectarines....no berries of any kind....hmmm...
We unpacked our two cars and let out the "STARVING" girls who promised they wouldn't whine in the fields about being hungry if we ate lunch first. That was fine, we could easily accommodate that request and we settled down under a shady tree to eat. After cleaning up our meal, we got ourselves a map of the fields and grabbed some green cardboard pint containers and headed out. Dave snagged a person with a staff shirt who said - "no more blueberries". Apparently he was also pushing the nectarines - eh. Ok, we headed towards the marked raspberry & blackberry fields. As we tramped through a strawberry field that had a little bit of fruit, we had some wilting girls who lagged behind, and the moms walked slow with them. The energetic girls sprinted ahead, leaping over the rows to find bushes with fruit. Eventually the dads determined there was no berry we could pick. This was extremely frustrating.
So, we headed over to the peach trees. There was obviously no shortage here. The trees were heavy with the fruit. We bypassed the nectarines and the girls went to work on the peaches. We quickly realized the berry containers we had were not suitable for the large peaches. As the girls filled them up quickly, Husband ran up to the farm store to get bags. He came back and reported that the peaches were not "ripe" according to a grumpy lady up there, and we were to only pick nectarines - they were having a special on them. Not one of us was interested in nectarines. We just stopped picking peaches - though I looked at them and doubted they were NOT ripe. I wondered just how big these peaches were supposed to get if they weren't ripe yet. We adults stood there chatting and downing our water while our girls ran up and down the fields. A young staff person walked over and started talking about the peach trees. "We know, we're not supposed to pick them, we stopped" I told the young guy. He was good natured about it and said there was a peach fest next week and they were saving the peaches for that. Then he gave us the nectarine spiel. When Husband suggested they update their website to say ONLY nectarines, he was apologetic, but offered that the website is no good, and they only update their Facebook page regularly. As he ambled off, I realized that the peaches were NOT underripe, as reported, they just didn't want all the peaches scooped off the trees before the peach fest. It almost made me want to fill the bag up - why couldn't the grumpy lady just SAY that?! Also, their sign in the driveway listed peaches as a pickable fruit! Argh!!
Needless to say, we humbly returned to the store with our sad, half filled sacks of peaches wondering if we'd even be allowed to BUY them. Our cashiers were kind souls who didn't make a fuss, but I witnessed the grumpy lady in action. She asked for all potential picker's attention. She laid down the law on pickable fruit - as she eyed a family who had gathered peaches in their big floppy beach hats. I glided out of there quickly, in case they changed their mind about the "forbidden fruit" we'd already paid for. We returned to the car with girls who were happy enough, having had some outdoor running around, but adults who felt a little empty-handed.
I'm seriously wondering what to do with my peaches. My guy is not crazy about fruit baked in dessert, so peach pie is out. I don't think any of my girlies would eat peach jam....I think we'll just work on eating them fresh, and that will have to be THAT!
Our next fruit picking will most likely be Fall apples - we'll just have to see. I can tell you this, our farm choices have been made easier after today!
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