A few weeks ago I was in Starbucks reading the Arizona Republic. I always buy the newspapers on Wednesdays, because that's when the food sections are in the paper. This Wednesday, there was a blurb in the paper about Schnepf Farms, the opening of peach season and the U-pick orchards. I sent a text to Cutie and asked her to go with me to pick peaches. She texted back immediately "I'm in!"
Now, we are crazy girls, and in our deranged thought process, we figured that it would be best to get there as soon as the orchard opened because there would be crowds of people swarming to pick peaches. Our peaches. Oh, how wrong we were! Not only were there no people there, but we dragged our sorry asses our of bed at 5am so that we could get to the orchard by 7am.
The peaches we picked were small, but sweet, and Schnepf doesn't use pesticides, so you can eat the peaches right off the trees.
We drove to the U-pick field, got our boxes and were sent along our way. I hit the orchard with jam on the brain. I went to town, picking as many peaches as I could, while Cutie wandered around, chatting, picking only the prettiest peaches.
My box of peaches on the left, Cutie's on the right. If we had a peach pick-off, I definitely would have won!
Cutie then found this peach, which we named "the dirty peach" and then proceeded to take 25 pictures of. Poor paparazzi-ed peach! We did pick him and he made some tasty jam.
I picked my little heart out and then, once I had filled two boxes full of peaches, we decided it was time to head over to the pick your own vegetable field.
I think that Cutie and I, both more city girls than country girls, had visions of us prancing through a field of veg, lush and green, filling a basket with loads of deliciousness for our plates. Yeah, let's just say if we had to become farmers, we would probably die of starvation.
Now, Cutie has an adorable little garden in her backyard and I've tried my hand at a garden, when I lived back east, and I don't remember it being this difficult to harvest. I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that the ground is a lot harder here and my lack of coordination with a spade. Those crazy carrots do NOT want to come out of the ground. We didn't want to pull too hard or dig too vigorously and ruin the veg.
In the end, we were only able to get one carrot, a couple onions and some beets. I will go back and buy fruit and veg from Schnepf anytime, but I'm not so good at the harvesting. Not only did I gain a lot of peaches, but a whole new respect for farmers.
Cutie and I made a stop at Whole Foods to pick up some bread, beer, carrots, and cheese, before heading back to her house to cook up a little lunch.
We started roasting the beets and carrots first, since it would take them longer to cook. A little olive oil and some salt and into the oven.
One of the simplest ways to prepare some delicious bread for cheese is to turn on the broiler, slice some bread, olive oil and salt both sides and place under the broiler till it crisps up. It's delicious, warm, salty, and I could eat it for every meal.
For cheese, Cutie and I are obsessed with goat cheese. Once, while at a wine bar, we ordered a cheese plate and begged the pushy server to let us have all goat cheese on the plate. He wouldn't budge and made us get a blue cheese. It was tasty, but we are through and through goat cheese gals! On this day, we chose a favorite, Humbolt Fog, and then a new goat cheese, Cypress Grove Chevre.
I could eat a whole wheel of Humbolt Fog, let me just put that out there now. It is one of my favorite cheeses. (That's a layer of vegetable ash that you see in between there – for those of you who are not cheesemonger-wannabes.)
Of course, our fabulous sous-chef, Woofie* (*name changed to protect the canine) had to be apart of the kitchen action.
We added the onions and transferred to a larger sheet pan.
After roasting, the beets needed to be peeled. The best way to do it, is when still warm and with gloves or else your hands will turn purple!
Our luncheon feast was very tasty and we were exhausted after our early morning and hard picking work. Woofie loved the roasted carrots.
Schnepf has great product and I highly recommend getting out there to support local farmers. Yes, it may take a little extra to drive out there, but honestly, you will be very pleased with the amazing product they are growing. I grew up back east, in Pennsylvania, where it was nothing to go to a farm or stop by one of the roadside stands to pick up fresh veg. Picking fruit and veg is a great way for children (or even adults) to recognize where their food comes from.
In the next post, I tackle jam. :o)
Song of the Day: The Stoop by: Little Jackie (aka Imani Coppola)
