™

Heartwings Love Notes 947 - Local Peaches are a Taste of Heaven

Heartwings says, "Peaches are sumptuously delicious however you use them."

Some time ago when I had my spiral garden, I used to plant shrubs there as well as flowering perennials, annuals and herbs. One year I bought a shrub labeled (I thought) White Forsythia. For several years it grew hardly at all, so finally I transplanted it, thinking it might do better in another part of the garden. The following year it shot up like a weed and produced pink flowers. So much, I thought, for White Forsythia. It must be some other kind of shrub.

One day as we walked in my spiral garden, a friend pointed to my "shrub" and said "Oh, you have a peach tree." Surprised, I looked where she was pointing and sure enough, there were fuzzy little green fruits suspended from the branches. Unbeknownst to me, I had a peach tree growing in my garden. In the following years I enjoyed my peach tree very much and often used its fruit in a variety of ways.

Now I don't have that garden, however I still love local peaches, though do no more than peel, cut them up and eat them plain with cream and honey, or over a pudding or ice cream. I remember my mother cutting peaches into canning jars, pouring boiled sugar syrup over them, and lowering the jars into a big kettle of boiling water. Stored in the basement pantry closet, how good those peaches tasted during the long winters of my childhood. What a treat, especially served for Sunday dinner over vanilla ice cream.

Each summer I buy local peaches from a nearby farm stand. Ripened on their tree, they taste like heaven, and I understand why the Chinese might have considered them the fruit of immortality. They are often prominent in images of the sage Lao Tzu. There is also a legend that a famous Chinese heroine Ho Hsien-Ku, who lived in 7th century BC was transformed into a fairy by eating a supernatural peach. It was said that thereafter she lived on a diet of moonbeams and powdered mother-of-pearl. As for me, I would be content with local peaches, ripened on their tree in the summer sun.

May you enjoy your local peaches while they last.

How do you like your peaches? Do drop me a line and tell me. I so enjoy emails from readers. Please write o me at tashahal@gmail.com and visit my web site for more love notes and other creativity at www.heartwingsandfriends.com
 

I love to hear from readers and would be honored if you would comment and let me know any suggestions or thoughts. If a friend sent you this, you can sign up at my web site, www.heartwingslovenotes.com, where more love notes can be found in the archives.

Blessings and Best Regards,
Tasha Halpert
 

← Back to Heartwings (Index Page)

   - Click here to print this page

Prev|Next