Just finished picking peaches, Oh my what a harvest from one tree. I have already given about a pail full to friends and family. I guess it's time for peach pie, and cobbler. I made peach butter yesterday, just one batch, but will be making more I can see. I think I heard the tree give a sigh of relief!

That sure looks like a lot of peaches. And especially as it is from one tree. Fantastic!

Holy Cow! I hope our trees some day give us even half as many! They look fantastic!

I like to peel and slice mine, sprinkle with fruit fresh and put in zip lock bags and freeze. Sometimes I use for smoothies but mostly I use on waffles. When I thaw for waffles I sprinkle just a bit of sugar to draw the juice and let sit a bit before putting on waffles, that way I don't need any syrup. But I do add whipped cream!

Okay everyone, waffles at Arlene's house!

I have another tree that I planted last year that has a couple peaches on it that I left on it just to compare. It looks like they will be ripe in a week or two. Glad it's a bit later then this Contender so they aren't all ready at the same time. Today it's freezing peaches day, and maybe some more peach butter. Arlene, I like peaches on pancakes, waffles, and I make a puff pancake (like popovers). I like peaches on that sprinkled with some powdered sugar, and of course whipped cream.

Tom, want to share your recipe for the puff pancake?

We are at the orchard right now. Big sale, two half bushel boxes for $18! They are Big Red so they are a firmer peach but still very sweet. These I'll freeze sliced on wax paper then bag to take out individual slices foe DH to use on his cereal.

Yumm for all those peaches!

I tried planting a peach tree here some years ago but it dues over one winter while it was still young. What a shame really as I would love to have peaches.

Rita, you should try a cold hearty peach tree like Contender. You are in a milder zone then me!

Arlene, here's the puff pancake recipe.

I use a 10 inch cast iron skillet that is well seasoned, but a no stick type pan would be fine too. I spray it with Pam before I add the butter, and the pancake slides right out.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2 Tablespoons of "real butter"
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Place pan with butter in preheated oven until it melts the butter and it's getting nice a bubbly. Blend all of the other ingredients in a blender, or use hand held blender. The more air you beat into the batter, the more it rises.

Pour the batter into the hot pan, and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until the edge of the pancake is puffed and deepgolden brown.

Remove from pan onto platter, and fill with the fruit of your choice, or mixed berries are good. You can sprinkle it with powdered sugar, and whipped cream is good on it too.

My favorite way to eat this is with sauted apples. I slice apples into a pan with real butter, and saute` until slightly browned, then I sprinkle it with sugar, and let it carmelize. Put this into the pancake, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Add whipped cream if you like.

You can do what I just discribed with peaches as well, even pares. Now if you really want to impress guests, you can pour a bit of brandy into the fruit and flambe` it to make a real show.

This is the same batter used to make popovers, so if you have a popover pan you can make individual ones. I ususally make a recipe and a half in my 10 inch pan. Have fun, and be creative!

Really your peaches and all this talk of peaches is making me want a peach tree again. I usually get things like that from Raintree Nursery and maybe I should try again in the spring to get a new baby peach tree.

You might want to look at Grandpa's Orchard I think it's in Michigan, Anyway, I got a few trees from them last year and they were really nice big healthy trees. They got good reviews on the watch dog.

Now I am thinking and trying to remember if I saw peach trees available in the local nurseries in spring. Can't remember. But I see apple trees all the time. One locally would be larger than mail order which would be good!

You have to be careful of the nursery stuff, unless they are into fruit trees big time often they have poor root stock, and I've gotten wrong cultivars from them. ie. yellow transparent instead of Cortland. The trees I got from Grampa's Orchard had fruit this year.

Good to know. I was just thinking it would be a bigger tree. But they grow fast so I guess no worries.

Just finished freezomg amd canning the last of the peaches. Oh my what a job. Have two peach pies in the oven, and I'm reducing some peach juice to make syrup for pancakes. Now I get to start the apples.

Great job!

Tom I agree peaches are coming on strong...

Wow Jeff, great peach trees!

Welcome to ATP.

Nice crop Jeff, those are those doughnut peaches. What do you do with them all? It looks like a young tree. I need to do a better job of thinning mine, I get too many, would be better to have fewer and larger ones. I have a second tree that has a few on it this year, but next year, I'm sure it will have many more.

I had a Frost peach for several years, until it succumbed to some sort of leaf curl. We got good fruit from it, although you had to watch for earwigs. One time I (fortunately) sliced one in half to eat and it was absolutely filled with bugs. So glad I didn't just chomp into it. Shudder. So, Contender and some sort of Donut peach are doing well in colder zones. How long is your growing season? I'm in a temperate zone but often have less/weaker sunshine than others, which can make a huge difference.