Better Rosh Hoshanah, than Rosh Limbaugh!

They found the place after my time, Mom and I were comparing notes. We found Lorings at Sumida’s stand in Brigham City last month, a Japanese orchard Bill was familiar with, told her that was the place to stop, and Mom was ecstatic. They were ordinary sized, but anything but ordinary tasting. They were fabulous and she bought as big a box as she thought she could realistically use, and shared a few with a friend whose reaction was much the same. Where did you get those peaches?!

Mom told her, and this person was planning on going to Brigham City for peaches in a couple of days anyway, so Mom told her carefully where to go, what the variety was, and asked her to bring some more for the Jeppson household.

The point didn’t quite register–the friend went to the orchard ‘strip’ out of town, but stopped somewhere else and got some other kind, just ordinary peaches. It wasn’t the town, it was the Lorings that mattered! That’s not what other places had.

So I’m envious. Even if they don’t get big where you live, they will still be fabulous….When can I schedule my visit? (Hint, hint…)

Hey, Alison, I remember one year when the peaches in the tree would call to me. I’d look at a tree and say, “there’s a peach in there somewhere”, and would climb around until I found it. Sometimes, it was “there are more in this tree, they’re still calling to me”. I always found them. What a hoot that was. Love ya. -Morgan

That would be lovely!!! My grandparents had a peach tree in just the right place to avoid the dangers of Michigan frost.
The problem of climate from the opposite direction :-}
Find any cherry trees?

The professional pickers didn’t skip small ones, which would grow.They just missed a few. Once we hit a tree with half the peaches still on it. I figured the pickers had been on the tree when the lunch break started and then came back to a different tree.
Sometimes a tree would have an abundant intrusion of poison ivy. You had to be careful what you picked

We paid $2 a bushel for what we gleaned. One we picked six of seven bushels. The fruit was so good we couldn’t stop. But the gleanings were dead ripe and had to be eaten or process within two or three days. We gave away a lot of peaches that weekend.

The orchards (other fruit, too) were well managed. Mr. Slonaker served as the president of the national peach growers association.

We stumbled on to the place when we were returning from a lakeside vacation plot we had purchased (and later sold). At that time Slonaker allowed pick-it-yourself sales. Then that stand disappeared, and a year or two later I called the orchard to ask about pick-it-yourself and when would the Lorings come one. He explained that pick-it-yourself was no longer available, but if we wanted to come and glean after his hired pickers were through, we were welcome. After that I’d call him every year to get a date for Loring gleanings.

When we missed a date because we were somewhere else at the time, on a couple of occasions we drove what I called the Peach Road along the Pennsylvania boarder looking for Lorings, with only rare satisfaction. Once while driving across the country we happened upon some at an orchard on a bluff above Grand Junction, CO. I cannot understand why more orchardists don’t grow what is clearly the most delicious peach on earth.

The Utah Lorings were smaller than the West Virginia fruit I think because the East gets much more rainfall. The smaller size did not diminish the flavor.

Love, Dad

What a fun, happy post. No fig tree then, eh?

I didn’t know that about avocados! happy fruit tree hunting (and yes, I can believe Sarah is that dumb!)

Loring peaches. Thanks! I’ll remember that. I can see so far that they’re available in Elkton, Maryland in mid-August. But I’ll keep an eye out for them elsewhere as well.

You know, Wilson grew up in WV. We go back to visit family. Maybe we will add Loring hunts to the itinerary.

How I’ve missed reading your posts. You are SUCH a good story teller. 🙂