By Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com

With Labor Day Weekend upon us and the fairs held this time of year cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to do something a little special. My first time peach picking at Irish Bend Orchard in Somers, CT turned out to be a great choice..

The folks who run Irish Bend couldn’t have been more pleasant and it was fun to try a new adventure. As well, the customers and staff were following the current masks and social distancing protocols. 

I definitely got my steps in today because pickers follow the orange flags to the rear, west side of the orchard. On this day three types of peaches were ripe for the picking with golden Messinas in abundance and it was the last day for white peaches – better known as Sugar Giant. I figured I knew how to pick peaches from watching so many Hallmark movies, so I enlisted the gentle twist approach. It is easy to understand why farmers need to hire pickers when their crops are ripe and ready – it is a big job. Fun for a day trip but it cannot be easy to fill up bag after bag, after basket.

      Judiciously picking about a dozen, I figured  I had plenty to put up a batch of my Wicked Girl jam – this will be another first for me – peach jam.  In addition to local honey and other fresh from garden items, they sell peach jam at Irish Bend Orchard, however, I started making my own Wicked Girl jams about two years ago, in that, what was available on the store shelves was too sweet for my taste buds. I keep my recipes pretty simple and thus far I have gotten positive feedback. Also selected a few ears of corn on the cob and a couple nice looking tomatoes from their farm stand. Whenever possible I like to support our Connecticut farmers. Irish Bend’s new hours are Fri, Sat, Sun 9-5.

All in all, today’s adventure was just peachy !