Peach Harvest

I did not expect to become a peach farmer in 2022… but it ended up a little that way.

To set up a little bit of a story. I love my front lawn. I like my back lawn, too, but that larger space is a bit harum-scarum, and behind my privacy fence I just try to keep green on the ground with a really wide assortment of grass and clover.

But my front lawn...I think of that as a bit of a show peace. It’s all Bermuda and Zoysia grass. I love how it changes color in the seasons and lays thick like living shag carpet. And in fine weather, I love taking my shoes off and squeezing bunches of grass between my toes.

I also have two trees in my front yard, an apple tree and a peach tree. When Brandy and I moved into the house over a decade ago, our landscaper was given wide discretion and he planted both of the trees (though he denies doing this, swearing that he would never plant fruit trees in that way). Both have yielded progressively more over the years, with a few nice apples being picked this year. But this was the year the peach tree really came in.

I’ve never really tried to harvest much from the peach tree in years past, the fruit was generally small and tart as it came in and it mostly fell from the tree and became food for the deer, rabbit, and squirrels that would regularly congregate in the morning; reminding me of a live action scene for Bambi.

But this year was different.

The size and quantity of the peaches coming in this year was more than the fauna of our neighborhood could consume (a branch even broke under the weight of the fruit), and the sweetness of the white peaches made me decide to really put effort in bringing in the harvest.

It’s hard for me to undersell how much fruit was really coming in. For several weeks starting in late July, I was out picking fruit every day and would regularly chat with the neighbors who stopped by to comment on the amount of peaches. Having picked well over 100 pounds, I could say easily that much (and probably more) fell in the yard before I could pick it. By the end of it, the fallen fruit was mostly feeding bees, so clean the remainder with care.

Well… What do you do with so many peaches?

We offered them to friends and family as widely as we could, many of you were good to take and enjoy them. Brandy tried her hand at a very tasty peach crumble, which was certainly a highlight of my summer.

But the fruit would only keep for so long. And many of you who know me probably would not be surprised that I began thinking of ways to turn it into alcohol. I did an infusion of sliced peaches to create a version of homemade schnapps; but there were still so many peaches left I decided to venture out to try and make wine for the first time.

In my research, I was very happy to connect locally with the folks at Ferment Station in West Knoxville. Not knowing anything about winemaking or homebrewing, they sent me up with a kit and some reading material, and feeling like one of my backwoods ancestors, I began the process.

With basically just my peaches, sugar, water, and yeast; I spent several weeks witnessing what was truly an amazing process. The alchemy in the created world is truly amazing, how one thing can transform into something else.

The verdict is that the wine is pretty good (I think so at least). My normal world leaves me pretty detach from the rhythms of nature, particularly as it relates to my work. But I love feeling the rhythms of the earth under my feet in my front lawn. And seeing all that could be done with the fruit of a tree that grew in that same ground, and it makes me all the more interested to find ways to stay connected with the growing and living spaces in my world. See below for more pictures