Peaches... Part 1

Are you getting ready for Memorial Day weekend? We can't wait for the long weekend to spend together.

Luckily, my mom is visiting this week from Texas. If you have read previous posts of mine, you may know my mom is pretty amazing in the kitchen. My husband has a list of requested things ready for her to make for him including her chicken enchiladas, Boston cream pie, and peach cobbler. Normally, we try to eat healthier than that, but her visits are a rare occasion :)

I've had major plans lately to visit an organic u-pick farm nearby called Schnepf Farms. Yesterday we made the trip, and it made me appreciate the life of a farmer even more. Picking fruit isn't that hard, but getting the fruit to grow is a Science, not to mention the processing required to use the food you grow in recipes, etc.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had heard great things, and was super excited to go picking with my daughters & mom. I hoped to make cobbler and jam with the peaches we picked together.

We live about 30 minutes from the farm, so driving there wasn't too bad. They open early in the morning (7:30 am) and considering it gets pretty hot quickly in the day, I had wanted to get there sooner rather than later.

Schnepf farms turned out to be a fun trip! They give you sturdy cardboard boxes to load up with any peaches you want. I brought my girls in their wagon...it helped to have a place for my 8 mos. old to sit while we picked. The ground was of course rocky/bumpy, so we weren't able to go really deep into the orchards where the huge peaches are, but we got some good ones!

Noel (my 3 year old) was so excited to go here...her first words in the morning when she woke up were "Are we going to get peaches off the trees??!!".....she put her hands to her cheeks imitating them going into her mouth.

The only issue I was frustrated with is that picking peaches is a little addicting, and before we knew it, we had filled 2 boxes. Since they make you pay for what you pick, we spent WAY more than I had intended. Lets just say we picked over 30 lbs in about 20-30 minutes.

It was a fun/rare experience and worth every penny for family time.

These peaches taste amazing, and in part 2 (I will post next week), I will share what we made:

1) 2 types of jam (one all natural with no pectin/ extra sugar, and the other with sugar and pectin for comparison)

2) Peach Cobbler which I also made in mini sizes, using some adorable ramekins I just got at Home Goods.I love them!

Here's a sneak peek :)

Thanks for reading about out peach picking adventure, and enjoy your friends/family this weekend.