Very sad news for Northeastern peaches, peach farmers, and peach pies this year: The arctic blast of the weekend of February 14 didn’t send shivers only down your spine—it also decimated the buds on peach trees, which were, thanks to weeks of peculiarly mild weather, coming up prematurely. A cruel bait and switch!
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The damages span from New Jersey to Massachusetts, with one farmer at Lyman Orchards in Connecticut telling the New York Times that he was expecting $400,000 in losses.
On a bright-but-still-kind-of-dim side, other summer fruits—like blueberries and even stone fruit like nectarines and plums—are having a fine summer. And, as Grub Street reports, the spring weather has been kind to apples and pears—”fall fruits that, by necessity or not, orchards now say they plan to promote ‘pretty heavily’.” Almost time for an early apple pie?
Looking farther into the future, this year’s peach shortage means next year’s peach-a-poolaza: According to the Times, “the dearth of peaches this year means that trees will have many more places for buds in 2017—as long as the current dry spell doesn’t worsen and winter doesn’t bring another debacle.” Keep your fingers crossed!
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For now, support local farmers by buying the produce you can find. Here are some recipes to start with:
Or fast-forward a bit and help support the sale of the early fall crops:
How are the peaches in your neck of the woods? Give us the peach 411 in the comments.
