Summer seems to be rushing away. We’ve been heading out early and seeking shade by late morning. Now, the cool of the morning lasts longer and we linger along the river until past noon. Very soon it will be fall.
One of the harbingers of fall is stone fruit.
When the produce aisle peaches actually give off their sweet heady aroma, the skin of a plum gives to the touch, and apple varieties triple, then summer is near its end.
We’ll make several trips to the hillsides above Hood River before the end of October. Each visit is rewarded with a new variety of tree ripened fruit.
Stone fruits mark summer’s close. Apple and pear varieties will reach a peak toward the end of September, trailing off by Halloween, and at that point winter looms.
On this trip we were treated to a glorious display of weather patterns. Clouds, rain storms and patches of sun encircled us.
From a vantage point on a sage steppe above the Columbia River, all you have to do is change your angle of view to get a different sky.
We started the day with rain and moved in and out of storms all the way north.
However, by the time we were at Kiyokawa Family Orchard it was under sunny skies.
A half dozen varieties of peaches were set out in boxes. There were some early apple types, as well as a couple of different early pears.
Tables holding thumb sized plums in various shades of purple rounded out the offerings.
We had no problem filling our cooler, even with the limited early season offerings.
This is only the start of our trips to collect orchard treasures and take note of the seasonal shift.