I Picked A Peach, And I Liked It.

Truth is I actually stole a peach. I walked right up and plucked it from the tree, then stood there giggling like a 13-year old after stealing her first kiss. (Yes, I was a late bloomer, just like the peaches this year.)  But I’m not sure admitting to stealing on your blog is good for one’s reputation.  (Though neither is that kiss admission.)

I know it was wrong, but I saw it there ripe in the tree and I couldn’t help myself. It was the first ripe peach in a tree I’d ever seen!   And that’s pretty exciting, for me at least. I know other people get excited by celebrity sightings, or climbing mountains, or even architecture. Me, it’s fruit, berries and spices in their unplugged settings. Okay … Let’s be totally honest, all food in it’s pre-consumption and for-consumption states. (Not so interested in post-consumption, I’ll leave that to doctors and archaeologists.)

I will go out of my way, far out of my way, to see fruit in trees, grapes on vines, and vegetables on stalks if I’ve never seen them before.  I think it’s fascinating to learn a little more about how they blossom, grown and eventually become the tasty, sweet, dripping treats they are when we eat them.

In June, I was invited to join Deborah for a tour around Niagara and I got to see my first green peach in the orchard at The Good Earth Wine and Food Co (where we stopped for a mid-afternoon snack.)

That was so exciting that unconcealed enthusiasm for fruit trees triggered a couple of tweets and Joanne, the lovely and gracious Joanne of bearer of the torch during my Diner en Blanc experience, said she had peaches growing across the street from her. She invited me down to see them when they were ripe and kept me up to date on their growth and ripeness ever since.  Including the fateful day when her neighbour came to pick the peaches (or more accurately “his peaches”).  But he left a few behind, thankfully!

So on Sunday, in the broad daylight, I drove down to JoAnne’s. And even before thanking Vivien for the ride, or saying hi to JoAnne, I walked across the road, jumped a ditch and stole a peach.


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Is there a fruit tree or plant you’d jump the ditch to see growing?