Come On Over

September 17, 2014 / PK Read / Leave a comment

“Peaches, ripe for the picking,” my neighbour tells me from atop his tractor as he passes by. “We can’t eat them all.”

No need to ask me twice. This morning I headed over with an empty picking sack.

The peachy corner of the neighbour’s garden, which was established in the late 19th century.

I’ll be honest, in all the years I’ve lived next door to this farm, I thought they only had one kind of peach. Pêche de vigne, vineyard peaches, of which there are several types.

The one grown next door isn’t a pretty variety on the outside, it looks a bit rough, a cowboy peach that’s been out in the weather too long and smoked a few hundred too many cheroots.

Pêche de vigne.

But there are two heavily laden peach trees, and the second is bending with the weight of green peaches that look vaguely unripe, but are soft to the touch and ready for harvest.

The green-yellow peaches, soft and ripe.

I’m happy to say I took a few of them, too. Because while I have no idea what this kind of peach is called (there are over 2000 kinds of peach), it’s a revelation of taste.

Tangy peach scent with a hint of vanilla, and the flavour is crisp with an aftertaste of honeydew melon.

The first small plate of harvested peaches, the first of many.

The scent of the pêche de vigne is completely different, a heady mix of sweet and rich red earth. The flesh looks like it’s been steeped in port wine, and that’s pretty much what it tastes like, too.

In the past I’ve made sorbet using these red peaches with a dash of port, and if I do say so myself, it’s not bad.

I was under the close supervision of this guy, who was sitting in the sheep meadow on the other side of the fence.

I foresee a large amount of peach jam, preserved peaches, peach pie and peach sorbet in my near future.

Thanks, neighbour!

End of Season

November 13, 2013 / PK Read / Leave a comment

A few photographs from the old farm next door to our place. Autumn is always a busy time – the garden gets readied for winter, the wood gets stacked, and best of all, they’ve been pressing apple cider. We’ve been lucky to be on the receiving end, every year, of their fine product.

The apple press, clean and ready for a new day of work. This is the small press. The giant stone press, hardly ever used these days, is here.

The inner workings of the apple masher.

And the stone fountain where all the cleaning takes place.

The whole courtyard is filled with the sweet scent of apples and the hay used to filter the juice. And out back by the compost, the remains of the press.

The walnuts have been out drying for a couple of weeks now. They’ll be cracked and pressed into walnut oil.

Old barrels meeting their end.

And the hoops that once bound them.

The number of pumpkins has been steadily dwindling with every passing week as they get made into soups and stews.

The sheep look ready for their winter quarters at another farm up the hill. They graze here from early spring until late fall or early winter.

The people who run this farm are in their 70s, and I don’t imagine their children will be carrying on the old habits of this place, which has been a working farm in the family since the mid-1800s. I’m grateful for every season we get to live in proximity to this heritage.

All photos: PK Read

Lazy Afternoon

August 9, 2013 / PK Read / Leave a comment

It’s a lazy afternoon here – the rains have stopped (for now); it’s hot, but not too hot, a fluffy cloud kind of day to not do very much.

Here are a few shots from the farm right next door on a lazy August afternoon.

Phlox
Photo: PK Read

This wall, the outer wall of a woodshed, is in a dormant state right now and looks like it’s just a place to hang wire – but during the harvest season, it is filled with shelves of squash, pumpkins, piles of string for binding together various vines.