Do you remember in all those Laura Ingalls Wilder stories how Pa decides to wait a couple of days to let the wheat ripen before harvest and then the grasshoppers come, or fires, or some other such calamity? We've all heard stories about Tornadoes ripping through the week before the wheat harvest in the mid-West and not only flattening the wheat, but sucking up the barn and harvester too. Those are some of the reasons that I'm glad I'm not a Farmer. I don't depend on my "crops" for my livelihood, or even for my meals. I'd have a lot more learning to do anyway, before I could join the ranks of "Farmer".
My 2008 peach harvest, though much anticipated, was a bust. I picked about 2 dozen peaches today, most of which had holes in them from the bees. The girls and I ate a couple off the tree on Tuesday, when I noticed that they were almost ripe. I picked a few on Thursday, but still encountered many green ones. By this morning, however, they had vanished, although not entirely. There was plenty of evidence scattered around to show that someone/thing enjoyed LOTS of peaches! While J grumpily denounced the "naughty deer and groundhogs", I was berating myself for not watching more closely. To be honest, this isn't the first time I've missed the peaches. A couple of years back, I was giving them a couple more days to ripen up and a doozy of a thunderstorm whipped through over night. By morning, all that was left were the tell-tale pits around under the tree.
Another year without peaches to put up. Bummer. We did eat all the peaches we could hold today...mmm...were they good.
The ones that got away...
2 comments:
That would be why I'm not a farmer too! At least you had a taste! ARe you taking the trees with you to your new homestead?
N
Hi N! I wish we could, but they are too big. Instead, we will plant a whole new orchard...should be producing in a few years!
T
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