Farm Sweet Home (June 21, 2010)

We love our farm. Our farm is in the suburbs, beside the driveway, between our house and the neighbor’s fence, and next to the garage. So maybe it’s not how most farms are laid-out. And maybe it’s not really a farm! But I’m feeling all gung-ho because today the first two peaches of the season fell off one of our trees. They’re both ripe and so our peach season officially has begun.

In 21st-centry America, most people get their produce from a grocery store. We’re no exception. When you choose fruit at the store, you know it was grown somewhere, but you don’t see it happen. So it’s exciting to bear witness to the process. Each spring we see our trees put forth their first tiny green leaves and in the summer we watch as doll-sized fruit becomes bigger, more colorful and eventually, ready for picking. It’s easy to get fruit from the store, but it’s gratifying to pick it yourself, at home. The first two peaches to jump off the tree are yellowish-orange-colored, between a golf ball and tennis ball in size, and they smell sweet. Is it a coincidence that they ripened and left the tree on the first official day of summer? Who knows? But it sure feels like summer is here….