What Food Comes To Mind When You Think Of Colorado?

PEACHES of course. When we got to the state, we thought the peach season was long gone, but we discovered that the "second season" is in full swing. On our nearly 200 mile drive (more on the drive in another blog) yesterday, we ran across a Fall Harvest Festival taking place in Paonia. The sign along the highway said simply, "U Pick Peaches". So we quickly made the decision to see what that was all about. What we found was a fruit and vegetable farm where you could pick tomatoes (picked about 10), peppers, grapes, (got a couple of pounds)

peaches, apples and blackberries (not ripe yet), or dig onions and potatoes. Oh, and don't forget the pumpkins, gourds, and squash. And all of it was $1 a pound.

We were given a box, and offered, but refused, a wagon to haul our produce back from the fields. And then we were pointed in the right direction. We spent some time just admiring the produce and then made our decisions. When we got to the peach trees, we just started picking and didn't stop until our box was full. Mike did take a minute to sample and declared they were delicious.

We looked so happy carrying our produce that a lady commented on our joy and then offered to take our picture.

We walked away having spent $20 and with great memories; what fun to actually pick peaches~ now we would have to do something with them. We talked about jam and how good that would be but then we decided on sauce.

This morning, after getting hints on fruit canning from mom last night, I went to town (15 miles) for jars and then peeled the whole works.

We assembled all the necessary materials.

And before long, we were boiling the filled jars! We even had to use Granny's Pot, Barry.

From tree to jar, less than 24 hours. Now that is the way to can peaches!

Good eating for a few months.