For over a century, the area that we farm around Winters has been a prime region for growing summer fruit.  Most of the apricot, cherry and peach orchards have now been replaced by walnuts.  But we have held onto a few gems like the 45 year apricot orchard where we had Farm Day last year and the 25 year old cherry orchard that we are currently harvesting.

On the other hand, with Peaches we have mostly started from scratch.  Peach trees generally don't live more than 25 years.  And the few old orchards still in Winters were planted for dried fruit or canning, hundreds or even thousands of trees of a single variety that all ripened in a week or so.  There are dozens of varieties of peach trees available, and by planting the right combination it is possible to harvest ripe fruit from mid-May until Labor Day (Cherries, by comparison, have just a six week season).

For several years we have been planting small amounts of peach (and nectarine) trees with the goal of putting them in your CSA every week from late spring until the end of summer.  Peach trees begin producing fruit in as little as three years; in comparison, apricots and cherries take 6-8 years to produce a real crop.   Our oldest peaches are now 10 years old and our youngest were planted just last year.  Once the latter begin producing, we will be very close to achieving our goal.

With over twenty varieties of peaches in the orchard, it is a challenge to harvest the fruit as ripe as possible while still ensuring that subscribers don't get bruised or mushy fruit: the peaches in your box will never be as ripe and ready to eat as ones you might buy at the farmers' market.  Starting this year we have a new Orchard Manager whose primary responsibility is to get you a bag of firm fruit that will soften in a day or two on your kitchen counter into juicy and sweet peaches.  Jason comes to us from a CSA farm in Ithaca, New York where he ran an orchard about the same size as ours.

In Your Boxes

We are getting into the main season varieties in our Cherry orchard, which are generally more flavorful and crunchy than the early varieties.  Still, you may notice that the cherries in your boxes aren't quite as dark red as they may have been in the past.  This is due to a new cherry pest, an invasive species called the Cherry Vinegar Fruit Fly that has quickly infested most of the cherry groves on the West Coast.  It is exceedingly difficult to control organically except by harvesting the fruit before its peak ripeness.  Allowing the fruit to ripen fully almost always results in the fly damaging the fruit and making it unmarketable.

Two notes on this week's "Peaches":  You may get some strange looking flat white peaches in your box.  These are so-called Donut Peaches, which have a delicate flavor and a melt-in-your-mouth texture.  We have several varieties in the orchard, these are the earliest ones.  Alternately, you may receive yellow fleshed Nectarines.  Their smooth skin, which comes from crossing peaches with plums, is much more prone to damage by insects, wind and cold when they are small.  Most of the fruit we are currently harvesting has some amount of cosmetic damage -- it's ugly.  Nonetheless, the nectarines are tasty and sweet and the damaged skin can be cut off easily.  Were we to send you only "perfect" fruit, there would be no Nectarines this week.

Recipe --  Veggie Fritter Salad with Poached Eggs
With potatoes, squash and carrots in the boxes today, it seemed like the right day for a fritter or latke recipe.  Make them small like falafels and then toss with arugula and poached or eggs over easy.  This recipe makes a meal for 1 or a salad for 2.  It can easily be doubled. 

Rinse and spin dry 4 C. arugula leaves.

Make a simple dressing with 1 t. stoneground mustard, 2 T. olive oil and 2 T. lemon juice or red wine vinegar.

Using a cheese grater or the appropriate attachment on a food processor, shred 2 zucchini, 2 carrots and 1 medium sized potatoes.  (the longer the strands the better).  Salt the veggies, then wrap in a thin towel and place in a colander.  Let them sit for 5 minutes then squeeze as much liquid as possible out of them.  There will be a lot of liquid.

Remove the veggies from the towel, fluff them up and add more salt to taste.

In another bowl, beat 1 egg with 1/2 C. finely diced onion and several dashes of black pepper.  Mix the egg and the vegetables together.

In a small dish, combine 1/2 C. flour and 1/2 t. baking powder.  Stir into the batter.

Heat a cast iron skillet (important!) with 2 T. olive oil.  Using a spoon, drop the batter on the skillet to make 2 inch fritters.  Make sure to leave space between them.  Cook on one side for 3-5 minutes, until crispy and brown, then flip and cook the other side.  For additional batches, add additional oil.  Keep the cooked fritters warm in the oven at 200 degrees.

In another pan or egg poacher, fry or poach 2 eggs.  The yolks should be soft (unless you don't like them that way).

Toss the arugula with the dressing, then add 6 fritters and the eggs.  Add salt to taste.  If you have fritters left over they can be reheated in the toaster oven later.