Random thoughts on peaches

One cannot live in Georgia and not be fond of the peach. Last year, my oldest daughter and I went peach picking for the first time and filled up a five gallon pail for about $5 -- a great deal for any money-wise yankee.

This got me thinking though and after a bit of research I concluded that for a mere $50 I could have the beginnings of my own peach orchard. As of late, I've been reading up on all things peachy and here are some interesting peach facts.

Peaches need at least 1,000 chill hours where the temperature gets down below 50 degrees at night. In 2011 the state of Georgia redesigned it's license plate and ran into some controversy when some folks mistakenly thought that "In God We Trust" would be mandatory instead of optional. This also drew attention to the winning plate design which incorporated peaches -- some readers thought the peach on the new plate looked a little too much like a  *ahem* horses buttocks.

Whenever my family and I drive through Atlanta there is this giant peach design on top of some building...I think it's the AirTran offices. Anyway, whenever my daughter sees it she says, "look at the big pumpkin." And finally what kind of yankee would I be if I didn't find a way to incorporate Robert Frost into all of this. Sitting on my mantel, I have a first edition copy of "A Further Range" by Frost and in that book is contained a poem about a little frozen peach tree -- "There are roughly zones".

In this poem, Frost contemplates whether or not a little transplanted peach tree will make it through a harsh New England winter and whether man is over reaching the boundaries of nature's natural ranges for plant species. As for me -- I'm glad I live roughly in the right zone for peaches.