Rolling hills planted with peach and apple trees and sloping vineyards are scattered through our area of south central Pennsylvania. We’re twenty miles north of Baltimore County, but there’s no traffic or bottlenecked beltways on our back country roads. You’ll slow down now and then, but mostly to pull over, park, and fill the cooler with the bounty that summer brings us each year. I have my favorite farm stand, of course, although the owner is new this year. I wasn’t expecting the change in ownership, but I admit the melons, green beans, tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries are just as fresh and good as in past years, so I’m still a regular. On the way to dinner the other night, however, we spotted a new stand on the way to New Oxford, one of our favorite neighboring towns. The site was formerly a nursery that closed last year. Now there’s a new awning stretching across the front of the building with tables heaped with fruits and vegetables. I can’t wait to explore this new market. And it’s almost time for a drive north to Carlisle to The Peters Orchards for peaches and apples. Their Honeycrisp apples have won best of show at the Pennsylvania Farm Show and are perfect for snacking and baking. And I can almost smell the aroma of a peach clafouti as it comes out of the oven.
Whenever your travels bring you to our neck of the woods, be sure to have a cooler in the trunk so you, too, can explore and take your favorites home to enjoy. Nothing better than local. Nothing better than fresh.
The Beechmont Inn Bed & Breakfast
http://www.thebeechmont.com
Kathryn White
Bed and Breakfast Foodie