semi-peachy
This is from back in the peach season. The long awaited peach day had finally arrived when we decided to make the trek to one of the peach processing and packing plants several miles north of us to bring back a quantity of these wonders of deliciousness. Carolyn and I picked up our granddaughter – Megan – and drove up to the Johnston, S. C. area.
When we arrived, the plant was in full operation turning out stacks of the boxed fruit. We decided – for economic reasons – to gather up some of the rejects. We were furnished with 5 gallon buckets and told the location of the sluice containing the flow of water that carried the scraped and/or bruised fruit from the plant.
We placed our buckets on the edge of the wall and started “bobbing for apples” – except they were peaches and we did the grabbing by hand and not mouth. In about 5 minutes we had gleaned the 4 buckets full and running over with the slightly scuffed fruit. As a family affair it rated just above being chased by a bad dog, but even the young one seemed to enjoy it. We paid a mere pittance for our gatherings, loaded up and headed home.
After dropping Megan off, we came home to deal with the abundance of our peachy blessings. We placed some in our old refrigerator downstairs, filled up the fruit dryer with some more and cut up some for fresh eating. We were weary from other activities of the day and decided to deal with the rest of the fuzzy fruit the next day.
My lovely lady has quite a fondness for this fruit, but eats them salted to taste – hers – something that is almost a sacrilege to me. My method of peach consumption is with them cut up in bite-sized chunks and in the presence of and accompanied by a high quality vanilla ice cream, such as Breyer’s – with real vanilla specks.
The problem with this method of gormandizing – yet in a slow, savoring manner – is that I seem to have trouble getting these companion foods to run out at the same time. If one is depleted before the other, it has to be replenished in order not to have half a dessert, then if the other runs out, that has to be added and so forth. If one is not careful, the completion of this dessert course could take quite a while and one could wind up several pounds on the bad side of the scales.
My next day’s activity – besides the babysitting – consisted mostly of peeling, cutting up, preparing syrup (light), and placing the fruit in freezer bags. The results came out to storing 16 of these quart-sized bad boys in the freezer.
In addition to this, another batch was put in the dehydrator and many bowls full were cut up for family members – young and old. My day of fruit preparation ended with about a third of the fruit still in refrigerators, but tomorrow is another day.
The blessings found in this fruit experience made me think about other blessings. Some blessings must be searched out, some have to be worked for and others are just simply given to us by a loving Heavenly Father. Recognizing our blessings – sometimes they are disguised – and being thankful for them – by whatever method they reach us – is the very least act of worship and appreciation we can show to our Lord. ec
When we arrived, the plant was in full operation turning out stacks of the boxed fruit. We decided – for economic reasons – to gather up some of the rejects. We were furnished with 5 gallon buckets and told the location of the sluice containing the flow of water that carried the scraped and/or bruised fruit from the plant.
We placed our buckets on the edge of the wall and started “bobbing for apples” – except they were peaches and we did the grabbing by hand and not mouth. In about 5 minutes we had gleaned the 4 buckets full and running over with the slightly scuffed fruit. As a family affair it rated just above being chased by a bad dog, but even the young one seemed to enjoy it. We paid a mere pittance for our gatherings, loaded up and headed home.
After dropping Megan off, we came home to deal with the abundance of our peachy blessings. We placed some in our old refrigerator downstairs, filled up the fruit dryer with some more and cut up some for fresh eating. We were weary from other activities of the day and decided to deal with the rest of the fuzzy fruit the next day.
My lovely lady has quite a fondness for this fruit, but eats them salted to taste – hers – something that is almost a sacrilege to me. My method of peach consumption is with them cut up in bite-sized chunks and in the presence of and accompanied by a high quality vanilla ice cream, such as Breyer’s – with real vanilla specks.
The problem with this method of gormandizing – yet in a slow, savoring manner – is that I seem to have trouble getting these companion foods to run out at the same time. If one is depleted before the other, it has to be replenished in order not to have half a dessert, then if the other runs out, that has to be added and so forth. If one is not careful, the completion of this dessert course could take quite a while and one could wind up several pounds on the bad side of the scales.
My next day’s activity – besides the babysitting – consisted mostly of peeling, cutting up, preparing syrup (light), and placing the fruit in freezer bags. The results came out to storing 16 of these quart-sized bad boys in the freezer.
In addition to this, another batch was put in the dehydrator and many bowls full were cut up for family members – young and old. My day of fruit preparation ended with about a third of the fruit still in refrigerators, but tomorrow is another day.
The blessings found in this fruit experience made me think about other blessings. Some blessings must be searched out, some have to be worked for and others are just simply given to us by a loving Heavenly Father. Recognizing our blessings – sometimes they are disguised – and being thankful for them – by whatever method they reach us – is the very least act of worship and appreciation we can show to our Lord. ec
posted by mreddie | 8:30 AM
3 Comments:
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Feel free to comment anytime :).
I so agree with you about the blessings.
i think Jesus did exactly what you described at the plant. He looked at pointed and said, "I want that one... and that one... and see that bruised and scuffed one? I especially want that one."
Ann - These bruised and scuffed one are not always the most talented, but the most willing and that's what our God desires, for us to make ourselves available. ec
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