We don't have a big backyard by any stretch of the imagination. When we moved in we decided we wanted some fruit trees and raspberry bushes. Of course, we didn't realize there was already a fruit tree in the backyard. The first few years we were here it didn't bear any fruit. All of a sudden last year we got fruit from it. We aren't quite sure if they are peaches or nectarines, but we found some papers from when we were looking at the house originally. In the original listing by the previous owner it says the tree is a nectarine tree. This year it gave us TONS of fruit. I guess the amount of rain we got at the beginning of summer was perfect for the tree. This little tree looked kind of pathetic earlier in the season when it was so overloaded with fruit that it looked to be bent in half. There are still a few on the tree.
This is part of what we have picked for the year.
A lot of the nectarines/peaches have fallen to the ground. The tree gets so overloaded that once they are ripe they fall. The birds and other little critters love our backyard right now. We're actually to the point where we are sick of peaches this year. That's how many we've picked.
As you can see, there are also raspberries in our backyard.
We started out with, I think, six raspberry bushes. We've had them for a few years now so they have really spread. The kids absolutely love going to the backyard to pick them. Our plants our nice because they actually bear fruit twice during the season - once at the beginning and then again later. We've had fruit this second time for a good month or so now. I saw how much raspberries are in the store and I can only begin to imagine how much money we have saved. The girls go out there probably 5 or 6 days a week and pick a bowl full of them. We don't spray or put any chemicals on our raspberries either so these are essentially organic, as is all the other produce in our backyard. that of course would drive the price up.
One morning my boyfriend was making pancakes and the kids decided they wanted the fresh fruit on them. They really loved it that way.
We also did some great ice cream. We decided to call it "Backyard Ice Cream" because we used both peaches and raspberries in it. It was a relatively plain vanilla ice cream and then we added in the fruit to the ice cream maker towards the end. I remember eating peaches and half & half as a kid and I thought this ice cream tasted so similar to that. It was really good!
We also picked a big batch and thought we'd have enough to make pie. Well, we started to cut them up and we had WAY more peaches than we thought.
We had more than plenty to make two pies and snack on them. I have no idea what recipe was used as my boyfriend made the pie. We each almost always use the basic pie crust recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. I think he tried to alter a rhubarb pie recipe that he made earlier in the season and use it to make the peach pies.
I'm not the biggest fan of peaches but I know my boyfriend and the kids all thought it tasted great. However, since it wasn't a recipe meant specifically for peaches, after a slice was cut juices seeped out into the empty portions of the pie dish. So it may not have looked extra pretty but it sure was great tasting.
I made it as it said on the box except for the water. Whenever cake and brownie mixes call for water I always use milk. I also use olive oil as the oil of choice so the milk and olive oil help balance each other out. Plus, the milk helps the chocolate taste great.
