Peach picking

While I'm excited about the upcoming London adventure, there are a few things that I will miss while spending those six weeks away from home.  And one of those is stocking up my freezer with frozen peaches, especially the white variety.  I usually head up to Butternut Farm at least three times during August and September to pick different varieties so that I can make jam, pie and freeze enough to last through the winter. 

Selim and I made it up to Farmington this morning after karate.  I'm glad we were there before noon.  The trees were pretty picked over.  At first I was nervous that we wouldn't get more than a handful.  But the owners opened up another section where the peaches were falling off the branches, even though they weren't completely ripe.  We were able to fill up 1 1/2 trays by the end of our picking.  So we have to wait until mid-week before they ripen and we can process them.  We also picked these tiny plums.  They are the size of a tiny apricot, about four bites big.  They are super sweet and juicy.  I think it will be labor intensive to make them into anything since they are so small.  They might be snack fruit only.

Tomorrow I have to finish unpacking from DC, start on the laundry mountain and do a clothes inventory for Selim.  I think we will need to go shopping with him and get him some new jeans for school.  This week will be my chance to do anything school related for him.  It is going to be hard missing his first day of first grade.  I'm going to trust that his dad will take lots of pictures.  There are huge drawbacks for this overseas assignment -- like missing his first day of school, my sister and nephew's visit back east, enjoying the garden harvest and the last days of summer swimming in addition to the sweet moments of regular family life.  It is hard for me to live in a hotel room for weeks at a time without my guys.  I just hope that the positives outweigh the negatives in the years to come.