On Eagle-eyes and Peach Jam

A friend, after reading the post about how my sewing room reorganization was holding up after a year, asked me about the “Quality Fruit” boxes in one of the photos.  I had to laugh because Ole Eagle-eyes had struck again!

When I was a little girl, my father would drive to West End to buy peaches from T. Clyde Auman, a member of the NC legislature and peach farmer.  We used to get the peaches in wooden-slatted bushel baskets and, if we brought the basket back, we’d get a discount on the next bushel of peaches.  Kinda like paying a bottle deposit on a six pack of soda and taking the empty soda bottles back to the store and receiving credit on the next six-pack... or for the bottle deposit.  I took my children to Auman’s and now, they take their children there for peaches.

 The 1969 Peach Queen Elizabeth Bynum Hall visits then Gov. Bob Scott (right) 

and an unidentified man.

I don’t know if they make the baskets anymore but we now purchase peaches in sturdy cardboard "Quality Fruit" boxes.  One never throws these away… at least not in my family.  Either the peck- or half-bushel size are handy for storage containers…. which is what they are being used for in the closet.  I even got fancy once and covered a peach box with contact paper!

What do we do with the peaches?  In addition to peach pies, cobblers, and crisps, homemade peach ice cream, peaches cut up over granola, cereal, or oatmeal in the morning, and sliced peaches and yogurt...  I make peach jam using a recipe I found online.

I’ve become famous/infamous for my peach jam in the family and among the close friends with whom I share the jam.  My sister Carol drives down from Virginia every summer in July for our annual Peach Jam Fest, where a lot of jam is made and a lot of visiting goes on.

Never dull around here!