The Colorado State Open Thread is not, contrary to popular opinion, a constant complaint forum for Representative Lauren Boebert all of the time. If it were, I would have plenty of extra material with which to be able to write these with. Instead, I have tried my best to direct you to stories written by others so I don’t have to sully my keyboard with odious materials so constantly. I would much prefer to write on uplifting material — writing about the beautiful landscapes of our state, the wonderful wildlife, the good people and places to go, things to do and positive things, rather than negative, bitter, spiteful ill-mannered people which is typified by Ms. Boebert and those who vote for her and root on her destruction of the country and the reputation of the people of the western slope.
For an example, I have been enjoying Palisade peaches for a few weeks. I used to have peach trees when I lived in Denver — one that I finally had to cut down because it was getting too diseased and old, one that I planted to replace it and then two that grew from pits likely planted by squirrels. The fruit would only survive late frosts about one in three years, but oh, when they did, they were absolutely delicious. They were not cling-free, which means they didn’t come cleanly off the pits, but the extra effort didn’t really bother me. When they did ripen, I picked them, canned lots and gave away lots more, including to some food banks. Every year I could count on my two pear trees producing fruit, occasionally I could get peaches and if I was lucky, I got some white grapes, some plums and even a few Asian pears. I didn’t try harvesting the elderberries since they were small and would easily crush in the fingers and I would usually leave the mulberries for the robins (OK, I ate some of them too). I tried growing apricots, but while the tree given to me by Kosack Merry Light grew, it didn’t produce blossoms in the time I stayed in the house. I also had to go to a neighbor’s house to get my supply of apples. He was very happy to have someone harvest them and not let them rot on the ground. I sliced them, sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar and dehydrated them.
I still have one or two of these pear jars remaining. It has been four years, which is beyond the “use by” date, but I’ve popped open a couple this summer and enjoyed them without getting botulism (so far) so I’ll pop them open and press my luck. I should go and get a box of Palisade peaches to can before they go out of season. I like the peaches fresh from the tree; my favorite use for them, though, has been for preserves. I like to use the preserves just to put them on a ham that I’m cooking as a basting sauce — no thinning of it, just chunks of peach oozing down the sides of the ham and caramelizing on the ham and the aluminum foil under it.
I haven’t had Georgia peaches, but I am perfectly happy with Palisade ones (since I can’t have them straight off the tree anymore).
How many of you grow your own crops? Gardening with vegetables, having fruit trees or a mixture of both? Do you raise flowers? Do you do any canning or preserving of the products so you can have them in the winter or next spring?
Colorado certainly has a lot of good, fresh produce. Estes Park has a farmer’s market on Thursday mornings, but I haven’t been as impressed with it as some larger ones I used to visit when I lived down in Denver. I need to go look up some roadside stands — anyone know of any in northern Colorado down out of the mountains and towards either Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder or Denver? I have the itch to go visiting, now that I’ve written this diary.
If anyone wants to contribute their experiences with Colorado’s bounty, or you have something else you’d like to discuss (Bronco’s have their first game this Saturday evening vs. the Cowboys at Mile High), this is an open thread and the floor is yours…