One interesting aspect of food is how it is grown, raised or produced, and the beauty it brings to us during the process. For example, I have the luxury of watching quite a few fruit trees in my yard, from start to finish, year round, enjoying the blooms, the buds, the leaves, the fruit, and even the seeds. To showcase the beauty of growing your own products, I have chosen this little peach tree in my yard to observe and share with you throughout its peak season.
But first, a little bit of history of this little tree. The house, the land, and all of these precious little trees were passed down from Charles' grandparents to his father, and then to Charles and I. In 2003, before my husband and I got married, we had all of the fruit trees pruned, even this little tree. The result was...well, let's just say...we didn't think it was going to survive. We simply left it alone after the pruning with all faith that it would come back the next year. Actually, it bared miserable looking blooms for the next couple of seasons, and we had given up all hope that it would ever produce any fruit. But boy, were we wrong!! In 2010, it gave us one big fat peach...only the best tasting peach I have ever put in my mouth! The "crop" that year wasn't very abundant, but the one peach that we had was well worth the wait. Unfortunately I have no photos of it, probably because it took the most direct route to my belly. In 2011, it produced abundantly, but we were then disappointed by extreme temperatures and drought, which did not allow the peaches to ripen. Hopefully that won't be the case this year.
March 6, 2012
This is the first photo, being used to compare the tree week by week. If you look closely, you can see the brand new tiny buds on the ends of each branch, just starting to poke their heads out, promising sweet juicy peaches. You can see just how little our "lil" peach tree is!
March 11, 2012
The second photo. Below you can see that the little buds are starting to barely open. Notice the light pink color. Also you can see the older growth, or the darker wood, vs. the newer growth, or lighter wood. Both will hopefully be bearing fruit this year.
March 15, 2012
Yeah! Only four days later, the blooms have started to open! Actually, there are quite a few clusters that have opened. Here you see them blossoming in the morning sunrise. I don't know about you, but it sure brightened my day...
Sometimes something so simple can be so lovely. I can't wait to taste the fruits of Spring & Summer. You gotta love it!
Stay tuned! I will be watching the "lil" tree week by week throughout the spring and summer. Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
It has to be one of my favorite parts of Spring...biting into a juicy, red, ripened strawberry. Believe me, I can, and will, devour them directly from the patch...no washing necessary! Growing up, we lived right down the road from Brooks' Farm Strawberries. Almost every year, my mom or grandmother would take us to pick our own. I vividly remember my younger sister eating her weight in strawberries before ever even leaving the patch, covering herself in red juice from head to toe. My grandmother always picked enough to put in her freezer so that we could have fresh strawberry shortcakes year round. Mom always put sugar over them after they were sliced, and put them in the fridge for later. Or, we would put them in our Frosted Flakes on Saturday mornings, back when good cartoons were still on TV on the weekends.
My grandmother, who's birthday happens to be right in the middle of
strawberry season, turned 91 this year. She is currently in the
hospital, going through rehab for Neuropothy, which is a condition that
affects the nerves in her arms and legs. She was unable to enjoy her
birthday at home, so we brought the birthday to her! We made German
Johnson tomato sandwiches (her favorite), and for dessert, we had
strawberry short cakes. My mom purchased some local fresh strawberries,
tossed them with sugar, and put them over the little yellow cake cups
that you get in the grocery store. We topped them with whipped cream,
and a candle, and voila!, birthday cake! It really brightened her day!
It's amazing what something as simple as food can do for the soul! 
It is so nice to see these severely pruned grapevines showing some green! They have bled a good amount, but I think they are going to produce this year! Spring has been so good to us, and I hope it continues. There are also some tiny bunches of grapes (pictured right) starting to form here and there. 
All I can say when I look at this picture is WOW! Can you believe that every little bloom could possibly produce an apple if pollinated?? That's a lot of apples! Actually, this is the apple tree that produces the largest amounts of apples in the summer, with its branches hanging full, all of the way to the ground. As I was photographing this beauty, I couldn't help but noticing the sweet aroma that the blooms were giving off, reminding me of sweet, sweet honeysuckle. The honey bees and yellow jackets were in love with it just as much as I was--there were bunches and bunches of them, at least one on every other bloom, just a pollinating away, creating a pleasant buzzzz and hmmmmm. Hopefully this is a great sign of what the future holds for this tree. Last year, with the apples from this tree, I made my
bubbly summer apple triple crust cobbler, fried apples, and homemade apple sauce. But
the options are endless I guess, so we'll just have to see what the future holds...
My husband describes this tree as "the little peach tree that could, " and also feels like this tree just keeps saying, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." And he is correct. It is hard to believe that this tiny little tree is able to produce something as beautiful as it has this year. In the past week or so, the blooms have started to die off (sadly enough), and the green leaves have started to sprout!! We have been pretty lucky this year to have rain showers about every other day. Hopefully this pattern will continue until we have sweet juicy peaches to enjoy!
One interesting aspect of food is how it is grown, raised or produced, and the beauty it brings to us during the process. For example, I have the luxury of watching quite a few fruit trees in my yard, from start to finish, year round, enjoying the blooms, the buds, the leaves, the fruit, and even the seeds. To showcase the beauty of growing your own products, I have chosen this little peach tree in my yard to observe and share with you throughout its peak season. 
Spring is (almost) here! I say that lightly, because here in North Carolina, it has been a very mild winter, allowing for an early Spring, and I could not be happier! The trees are budding...and you know what that means?!?! It means the fruits of our trees and plants will be here very soon!
I did my fair share of cookie selling. I remember specifically standing in front of the local Food Lion with my best friend and fellow Girl Scout, Claire Bolton, in the cool rain chanting "Girl Scout Cookies $2 a box" as customers entered the building. (Yes, they were a lot cheaper then!) I was enrolled in Girl Scouts in 1988 in Brownie Troop 632. I later was bridged to Junior Troop 1415, both of which were in Council 364 Pines of Carolina.
My husband and I love making these at
Christmas time too, at a time when we tend to crave the comforting foods we had as kids. We each grab 2 spoons and stand on opposite sides of the counter, piling up heaping teaspoons of warm, chocolaty, nutty, and just plain yummy cookies. It somehow brightens our spirits during this magical, yet stressful time of year. 
