Millions of peaches, peaches for me ...

So one of the joys of the East Coast that I don't think we have out west (if we do I had not experienced it there, and it is certainly not institutionalized like it is here) is fruit picking. In the fall, there are apples to be picked all over the East Coast. And in the summer, well there are peaches, blueberries, blackberries, nectarines, raspberries, and just about every other fruit you can think of scattered about in farms all over New Jersey. Anyway, on this particular weekend we decided that instead of going to a grocery store we would head out to Central Jersey, to pick some peaches. After a little research we ended up at Alstede Farms, in Chester, NJ.

After about an hour we got out to the farm, parked the car and after trying some organic hummus, local wine and salsa. The wines were not great, but the hummus was. We goofed around a bit and then made our way up to the picking area ... the farm was just finishing blueberry season, just starting up the raspberries and blackberries, and early on in the peach season. So we decided that we would just pick some of everything. We spent about an hour and a half hours in the sun picking berries, ending up with a couple pints of raspberries, blackberries and the dregs of the blueberry population. After the berrries we headed back across the farm to pull down a good ten pounds of peaches. Most of the peaches weren't quite ripe (something to learn for the future ... the middle of peach season is the right time to go) but we still got a lot of good ones and generally had a blast. After the picking and the carrying and the paying and the packing the car, we stopped by the farmhouse on the way out and picked up some white peaches and maybe the best strawberry ice cream that you've ever had.

One afternoon and 30 bucks for 10 pounds of peaches (that's 5 peach pies and a cobbler people), 2 tubs of berries and some fantastic ice cream ... you know we are going back ...