Fruit Pickin' Expedition

We have quite a few backyard fruit trees here at the MKG, but it's still fun to take a little trip out to the local orchards.  A whole crew of buddies were heading out into the farmland to go fruit picking recently and I happily joined in!

The first farm we went to specialized in cherries.  This farm had row upon row of cherry trees.  Some of the trees held ripe fruit, while some varieties needed a bit more time.  In only fifteen minutes (seriously) I had filled up my bucket with more cherries than I could eat.  Fruit picking is the sort of activity that can appeal to everyone- if you like accomplishing things, you can pick quickly and be done.  If you like savoring things, you can hunt for hours for just the right fruits.  I think everyone came away feeling quite contented from the experience.

My cherry haul

A group of cherry pickers take a break

The second farm we visited had peaches and nectarines.  I prefer peaches myself so stuck to those.  As soon as we started walking through the peach orchard I was struck by a powerful scent memory - it smelled exactly like my grandfather's farm!  I don't even really remember eating peaches there, but the smell was unmistakable.  I was suddenly 6 years old being carried through the farm on my enormous uncle's shoulders convinced I was going to fall off and die (he's 6'5").  I stood there breathing in the orchard for a full minute before continuing on to gather a nice batch of perfectly ripe peaches. 

Ripe peaches, ready for the picking

Peach orchard

So far, peaches and cherries have been enjoyed fresh by my husband, and on Sunday I made this peach galette (just 5 ingredients if you only count the Trader Joe's frozen pie crust as one):

Peach galette - photo taken quickly because I really wanted to eat it already!

Now I just need to decide what else to make with all this delicious fresh fruit.  I have my eye on a cherry-almond upside-down cake next...

Also, Happy Summer Solstice!  I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!