Jul 9, 2019 3 min read

My husband looked out the window over the weekend and called to me.

“Look at that tree,” he exclaimed. “It’s polluted with red apples, I think.”

“I don’t have an apple tree planted that far out,” I replied. “I better walk out and see what that is.”

I laced up my shoes and walked into my “orchard.”

As I walked, I thought about when we planted the trees. It must have been about seven or eight years ago now. I was told to expect it to take a few years for any of them to bear fruit, but I have yet to pick anything from any one of them.

One of the apple trees grew a handful of fruit a few years ago, but the birds destroyed them. The other two apple trees have never grown anything. The cherry trees succumbed to disease after only a year or two, despite my best efforts to combat what they had. One pear tree and one peach tree were damaged beyond saving one summer when the bull got out of the pasture and decided to scratch himself on each tree he walked past.

And don’t get me started on the grapes or the blueberries! I’ll just sum it up to say that I have spent far more in fertilizer, fungicide, insect repellent and netting that I will probably ever see returned in fruit.

However, to my surprise, the tree that he was seeing was laden – I mean the branches are bowed nearly to the ground – with peaches. I gently reached up to touch one, partly to see if it was ripe, but mostly to ensure it wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

I noticed a few of the peaches had some bird damage, and there were a few bees buzzing around the pecked areas. I know that means I may have to pick the fruit a day or two before it is ready to eat to save it.

That also meant I had to clean my canning kitchen.

Early in our marriage, when I was canning hundreds of jars per year, my husband put a basic second kitchen in our addition. A simple frame to hold a sink and a slab of counter, another slab on the other side to hold the produce, a range, and some shelving to hold the final product. It made it easier for me to contain the mess of canning and keep the rest of our house clean.

Over the winter, that kitchen is a place to store things we don’t use very often because it is otherwise unused space. Once a year, before I start up the pressure canners, I have to do a complete overhaul in there. The amount of peaches on that tree meant I had to clean before tomato season.

I spent a few hours in there yesterday, reorganizing my canned goods, putting away empty jars, and washing the counters and sink down.

After it was clean (do I want to ask why there was a soccer ball, bicycle seat, and a stack of plastic tablecloths in there?), I allowed myself to get excited about the peaches. If I need to, I can pick them today.

It would be my luck if the birds get all of them before I can pick them. They’ve tasted so good in my mind!

Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.