Of Rabbit Holes & Writing Desks

Nessie, the six-month-old chocolate lab, tears through the house wanting nothing more than to lick the cat until it becomes her friend. A puffed up and spitting blur of fur trailed by a bottle brush tail screams past my feet wishing it was just a floating Cheshire smile as the dog slides around the corner to beat a path between my legs. Meanwhile, my wife brushes Cocktail and Josie, the guinea pigs, who have been shedding on purpose for attention. My kids are in the kitchen, arguing. “She is really tan,” daughter #1 says. Daughter #2 looks confused. “She is not,” she says, trying to disabuse her sister of this error – “She’s only nine.” I’m momentarily, and quite summarily, transported to the table of the Mad Hatter’s tea party. I feel I’m wearing a jacket that’s three sizes too small and I think it may clash with my cravat. I hear the dog before I see it and I’m knocked to the ground. The cat is on top of the refrigerator looking at me as if this is all my fault, and it could indeed be, but I like to think it’s all just a big misunderstanding.

Why is it that in springtime we seem to fall down whatever surreal rabbit hole may be waiting for us? In the fruit world, it’s the same thing. There’s the tickle of curiosity and the beginning feeling of excitement. The longer sunlight and buildup of warmth during the day that makes us feel that we are somewhere we aren’t yet. That somewhere we aren’t quite, however, is in the presence of summer stone fruit. Now I have seen some very early peaches, but they are so green and without sugar that they don’t make the grade for our mixes – but they are out there. I also see some early cherries too, but I want to make sure that they are sweet and not bitter. So – how much longer you may ask. Are we there yet? Well, hang onto your teacups because we’re very close to answering that annual Mad-Fruitier riddle: “Why is stone fruit like a writing desk?” The answer (which is of course commonly known amongst professors and small aquatic mammals) is: “Very, very soon.”

Keep checking our mixes by region at www.fruitguys.com/mix. Don’t fret, as soon as the stone fruit is good, and it will be in our mixes. Enjoy and be fruitful!

– Chris Mittelstaedt chiefbanana@fruitguys.com