Easing Sweetly into Fall

I don’t like fall! I don’t like it at all! Cool weather fan? Not really, man…

I do, however, look forward to the abundance of the fall harvest. At our house, this means peaches (if the squirrels, raccoons and skunks don’t get them all! I need a scarecrow that looks meaner than the cute ones from FlagsRUs!).

We have two peach trees in our yard that will produce this year. One of them is right near our back door -- so we can monitor the progress every single day! We love seeing the beautiful red blush develop, which signals the coming harvest.

This year, my husband is using a big push broom to prop up one fruit-laden branch that is interfering with house traffic. The tree on the other side of the yard hasn’t been so fortunate. It has a branch that is actually sweeping the ground.

It won’t be long now, though, until we pick the fruit and the trees can magically resume their normal shape. Then, the sweet scent of ripe peaches will fill our house… drawing us all to taste, including the fruit flies. Along with the eating, comes the preserving. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, as the Bible says. And, when I am faced with peaches stacked on every available counter in the kitchen, I feel like the girl in Rumpelstiltskin. So many peaches to freeze! How will I ever get it done?

One peach at a time! My husband always helps. He says that Illinois peaches are the best. I say that homegrown peaches taste the best. In this case, we are both right!

So there! With a freezer full of sweet sunshiny fruit, fall isn’t so bad. Eating some fresh peach cobbler and decorating with some new and pretty fall-themed flags helps cushion the blow, too.  Check out the fun FlagsRUs designs to help get yourself ready for fall!