OMG, I love peaches. Especially the juicy ones that you bite into and the juice runs down your chin. Nothing better. I’ve been waiting this year for the peach crop to come in and watching for the notification that our local “pick your own” orchard, Eckerts, is ready for those of us chow hounds to come ravage their trees. That first opportunity came up last weekend. And at $.99/pound, $1.00 less than normal pick your own prices and a whopping $2.00 less per pound than what they generally cost at the grocery store.

My husband and I have a Harley Davidson motorcycle that we enjoy riding especially in the beautiful rolling farmland of Calhoun County and the river cities in Jersey Counties in Illinois. Grafton in Jersey County just happens to be the location of the closest pick your own orchard to us, so this is generally where we chose to go. I’ve had a problem with our Harley ever since we bought it in that riding it for any length of time makes my rear end really hurt. It seems that the edge of the seat sits right where my sciatic nerve runs down through my rear and into my leg. I’ve tried air cushioned pads and gel pads and a combination of both, but it doesn’t seem to matter, it still hurts. One of the solutions we’ve been avoiding because of the cost is replacing the seat with a wider one that might eliminate the edge of the seat impacting my sciatic nerve. After our recent trip to Keokuk, Iowa (only about 100 miles from us) we decided that we were just going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new seat. $480. Wow. So we purchased the new seat and installed it on the bike last weekend. It was my idea to combine the maiden ride on the new seat with our trip to the orchard knowing that we had plenty of room in the saddlebags to put the peaches after we picked them.

That seemed like a great idea except for the fact that we also combined the trip to the orchard with dinner at a local restaurant and 100 degree heat. Incidentally, this restaurant, Finn Inn, allows you to enjoy your meal with some extra special friends.

Even though we tried to park the motorcycle in the shade, it proved to be a less than ideal way of transporting the peaches especially since the saddle bags sit on top the mufflers. The peaches came home a little worse for wear, but I’m hoping that I can still get them canned without any adverse effect. Live and learn.

Next  up is peach pies, peach jam and peach pie filling.

Update: At least half the peaches we brought home were literally half-baked and although I thought they would still be usable after I’d gotten my peach preserves made, they were not. I’d stored them in the basement where I figured it would be cool enough but when I went to retrieve them, they were covered in mold!