When I was growing up there were generally several fruit trees around. My grandparents had two apple trees in the yard and when we lived at West Van Lear there was a large June Apple tree which dropped hordes of apples on the road. I'd always take the long way around home to grab a few of those. I'd so love to have some June apples again.
When we lived in the old Blessing place on Nat's Creek there was an apple tree at the lower end of the garden as well as a huge pear tree in the garden right by the kitchen door to the house. I ate tons and tons of pears every year.
My grandparents also had Chinese Chestnut trees. I don't think those are really a fruit but I'm not sure what they would be classified. Maybe a nut as they most certainly are not a berry.
But, the fruit trees I most recall were a line of small peach trees growing in a line down the little rise between the house/road and garden when we lived at Spring Know tower. I recall them not so much due to them producing many peaches but for one spring when the peach trees were loaded with small peaches it came a bad storm.
It was an ice or sleet storm. I guess it was probably sleet. Either way all the limbs, leaves and baby peaches were covered with a coating of ice with icicles hanging from all the branches. Everybody thought all the peaches were ruined for the year but in the end we had the best crop of peaches I remember coming from those trees.
Makes we want some peaches now. Never really cared for canned peaches but I do love fresh ones. Not those rock-hard ones one gets at the grocery store but large, soft, ripe peaches fresh from the tree. I've not been able to go to the local farmer's market this year due to my leg but I bet it won't be long before we have some great, local peaches there.
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