Family, Food, gardening, Uncategorized

The Peach Man Cometh

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Our town boasts two large grocery stores in addition to Walmart.  All three places have terrible produce, especially when it comes to summer fruit.  We waited all summer for Idaho, Colorado, and Washington peaches,  but they never arrived, leaving us with the second rate California peaches which always seem to disappoint.

Husband’s paternal grandfather was a door to door vegetable salesman in eastern Ohio from 1925 until 1968. He drove his truck up and down the roads and highways around Bridgeport, Ohio,  shouting “Vegetables!” and selling produce he grew himself or bought wholesale in Wheeling.  Husband grew up with great expectations for really nice produce, which is probably one reason we garden so much.

All summer we keep a look out for the fruit trucks that come through town, usually on the weekends. The Peach Man (who also sells Flathead Cherries) always parks in the small parking lot by the State Farm Insurance office and the Music Store.  He is a local guy who drives out to Montana and Washington, fills up his truck with peaches and cherries, and sells them here and in the little towns around us.  His produce is terrific.

We only got to the Peach Man twice this summer, and were feeling deprived when I noticed that one of his competitors, The Fruit Club truck, was in town one last time last Saturday. Off we went, and we came back with 10 pounds each of plums, peaches, and pears.  They all ripened Monday, so we are making jam and freezing pie fillings.  Sometimes  you just have to go overboard.

What do you find hard to resist?

33 thoughts on “The Peach Man Cometh”

  2. Can’t top Wessew’s answer!

    Food…
    Hagen dad ice cream…(no added gum etc)…new flavor of vanilla and coffee ice creams layered with thin Belgium chocolate = can easily over indulge so I have to use restraint when in the ice cream isle.
    Bing cherries…another easily over indulgence…

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  3. I’m jealous. We never found really good peaches this summer. I go overboard on strawberries every year. I go down and pick my own and as soon as the two baskets are full I always think should I get a third basket? Should I get a third? I usually don’t which is good. That three to four days after I pick strawberries are a little overwhelming with strawberries at every meal and as snacks four or five times a day!

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  4. And of course I’ve said here before that I cannot resist seasonal marketing. M&Ms in fall colors, Oreos with red filling at Christmas, hand soap in a spring dispenser…sign me up for them all!

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  5. Chocolate is high on the list, VS reminds me, esp. the Cadbury round ones, whatever the season. Sweets in general if they’re right in front of me – I can walk by the dessert table at a pot luck, but if Husband has something yummy looking on his plate, I have to at least taste it, and then I go get one of my own.

    I also have a hard time leaving free time for myself – can’t resist stacking the calendar – everything seems like such a good idea when I hear or read about it… then when the actual day comes (esp. if it’s an evening gig), I often wish I had a nice quiet evening at home.

    So I’m trying to leave one day a week with nothing scheduled. A couple of things have crept in, but kind of errand-y so they won’t take long. I may get to washing some of the mini-blinds…

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    1. I find well made pottery irresistible. For this reason I have to be very selective about what pottery shows or tours I go to. Fortunately for the potters, things do get broken. I’m down to four of Martye Allen’s coffee cups, so am in the market for two to replenish my supply. Who knows, by the time she’s in town for her next show in early December, I may need more. This coming weekend some of my favorite potters are having a show in Harris, Minnesota, a good chance for a drive in the countryside and perhaps pick up an additional piece.

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    1. I also had mandatory training this morning. I sat in the back and I doodled and didn’t look up so that my boss couldn’t see my face.

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    2. You might recall my complaining last week about 4 and a half hours of safety “training”. Well, on Monday one of my fellow workers completed his “training” and it took 5 and a half hours. He was so PO’s that all he did that day was drop off his tools and went home.

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  10. I planted a couple pear trees a few years ago. This year, between the two, I think I counted 12 pears. (Pretty sure I need to prune them; how hard can that be??)
    Tried a pear a few weeks ago and it wasn’t ready yet. Tried one Sunday… oh my, that was good. They’re small, and probably a few days from being perfectly ready yet… but as we all know, something grown yourself sure does taste good.
    (except for my sweetcorn this year. Or the cherry tomatoes I don’t like anyway). But everything else. 🙂

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        1. Squirrels will eat just about anything. Even if they don’t like it much, they’ll take a bite or two and then leave it, thus ruining it for anyone else. (Who wants to eat something that a squirrel has chewed on? Not me.)

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      2. Long long time ago when I was a youthful working lad, I went to measure a grain bin and there was a squirrel running around inside the bin, unable to jump back up to the door to get out. I didn’t crawl in either as there wasn’t a ladder so no way for ME to get back out. And the farmer wasn’t home so I wrote a note on the inspection sheet to let the farmer know there was a sgrirrel, squeerl, sqirrel, seqirrel, RODENT in the bin.

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        1. This morning as I went to open Helen’s chicken coop, I thought I saw something move in the large metal container of food. The container sits in a dark corner of the garage, so I wasn’t sure, but as I stood still watching before putting my scoop in there, sure enough it moved again. A couple of small mice, huddled together on one side of the container holding the feed. The bin is too heavy for me to lift, so I’ve recruited Hans to help me oust them this evening. Can’t leave them in there, though I know they certainly wouldn’t starve to death.

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        2. Funny, Ben! Reminds me of that story about the guy whose wife collapses. He calls 911 to request an ambulance. Dispatcher wants to know where he is, which is on Eucalyptus Drive. He can’t spell it after four or five tries, so he says, “How about I drag her over to fifth and Elm?”

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  12. Oh, wow, listening to first hour of All Things Considered – just heard a clip from the MPR Archives of Bud Buck talking to Dale Connelly during the Final Morning Show Broadcast… Twin Cities station will repeat it at about 5:40.

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    1. Thanks for the heads up – I caught it on the repeat.

      In the Twin Cities, MPR runs old Prairie Home Companion shows on Sunday evenings. They are usually from the days when Tom Keith was still on the show. Those were very fun shows.

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  14. Tonight I can’t resist listening to the Twins game even though it’s against the Yanks in the postseason and we all know what that means (hint: the twins do not win). Coupled with that, I’m doing some emotional eating (chocolate cookies etc) and between that and the game score I’m feeling rather sick.

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