Rather than hitting the road for exciting travels over our long weekend, we stayed local. That meant sleeping in (even if “sleeping in” is just sleeping until our usual time, just without an alarm), watching too much Netflix (we’re re-watching White Collar in preparation for season 4’s upcoming Netflix debut, fingers crossed), and spending some quality time outdoors.
On Saturday, we took in the first Oregon football game of the season, cried our way through UK’s first game, and finally got caught up on some reading.
Now, while most of the world seems to be entering Autumn and jumping on the “pumpkin baking” train, we’re still living it up with summer weather around here. I’m usually all for ushering in fall, but after experiencing the most pleasant Pacific Northwest summer, I never want summer to end. So save your pumpkin, Autumn. I’m still craving berries and peaches. Luckily, it’s prime peach season here in the Willamette Valley, and we took advantage of that on Sunday afternoon.
Our friends, Chris and Susie (and their two cutie cute kiddos), took us to Detering Orchards, just a little north of Eugene, for some good ol’ peach picking. This place was awesome. We picked buckets full of Suncrest peaches, along with some Bartlett Pears, before perusing their market selection of other fruits and veggies. Paradise, yes? We made it out with 25 peaches, 4 ears of corn, and 3 pears for $12. Seriously. It was the best.
And yes, this only furthered my desire to own an orchard.
We also got to play with the Apple Blaster, which proved to be a genius way for the orchard to use fallen apples, feed some cows, and make some money at the same time. We shot apples from a slingshot at a bunch of targets, which the cows later enjoyed as they moved into the field. Susie managed to hit the back target, and apparently was the first person ever to do so, so she won a whole second round of apples to blast! It was pretty impressive. I didn’t hit anything (no surprise in the hand-eye coordination department here).
On Monday, Eric and I kicked off our day with a quick hike up Mt. Baldy. I’m not sure why this one gets the title of “Mount” when taller points around here are “buttes,” but I’m no wilderness expert. The trailhead (part of the Ridgeline Trail System) is only about 5 minutes from our house. The one-mile hike (round-trip) was pretty, but the views from the top weren’t quite what I was hoping for. But it did inspire us to add “hiking the entire Ridgeline Trail” to our Eugene to-do list (it’s only a little more than 12 miles, so don’t be too impressed).
I spent the rest of the day baking all kinds of peach treats, from peach scones, to peach banana bread, to peach cobbler, to peach-mango salsa. It was just peachy. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be the 400-pound woman with peach juice on my clothes.
-Ally
Ashley Morgan says
I love peach salsa. What recipe do you use? Share, please! I’ve never made it homemade, but that sounds like an excellent thing to try!
ericandally says
Ashley, here’s the recipe I used! It was good, but I wish it had a bit more of a spicy kick. Maybe adding some garlic would help?
5 large peaches (washed, halved, pits removed)
5 tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper (minced, seeds removed)
1/2 cup chopped mango (I used frozen)
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 cup honey
handful chopped cilantro
salt, to taste
Brush a grill with vegetable oil (I used a grill pan), and grill peaches face down for several minutes. With tongs, flip peaches until skins begin to darken. Remove peaches from grill when they can be pierced easily with a fork. Allow to cool. Remove skins. Chop.
Combine all of the ingredients.
I think it tasted best after sitting around and soaking up all the flavors for a while. Hope you enjoy!
-Ally
tokyohamster says
Looks like so much fun! Haha those peaches look huge in those adorable baby hands!