Colorado peaches

I know Georgia is proud of their peaches and rightly so. We had a peach grove on our property inside an old pecan grove in Louisiana but the trees did not grow very good peaches. We hadn't a clue what we were doing and none of us cared enough at the time to learn. I must say, the peaches grown in a certain spot in Colorado are outstanding. I cannot wait for peach time to get here. And it's here now. I want everyone here to know how important this is. I want to share the peach-love. I noticed the farmer's markets cannot be trusted on this. I saw vans filled with boxes marked California peaches, and they're good too but not the same thing.

Grand Junction and environs including an important agricultural town named Fruita are tucked into a canyon valley that warms up considerably and that has its own regional climate. The specific valley is excellent for growing things like peaches and cantaloupes. The place abuts Colorado National Monument, a large park that belongs to dinosaurs, up there center of Colorado westernmost next to Utah where the landscape is dramatically western and that looks like this and where it becomes so dry that smokers will get two drags off their Marlboros before the cigarette paper tube is all ashes, unless they dip them in their coffee first. And where hummingbirds get so mean and aggressive that they buzz homeowners until their feeders are filled and where one can experience a biblical plague of large lumpy toads flopping all over everywhere even inside the house when the doors are opened and that completely disappears the next night.

The general large grocery stores cannot be trusted for Colorado-grown crops either due to their need for leveling a steady supply for high demand while buyers for specialty stores strike relationships with farmers that bring their produce directly while it is available. Buyers for large enterprises strike large global and regional deals for large steady supplies while specialty shops and buyers for places like Whole Foods and Marczyk are pickier, fussier, and more specific. Their peaches and tomatoes will be reliably great through the whole season, not just for a few blessed weeks.

On the way out of the building I tell the two in the office I'm off to Tony's and ask if I can pick up anything specifically, for them. It is unusual for a resident to offer. Most the time residents, and everyone actually, poke their heads in to offer another problem for them to resolve.

"No."
"No."

I think to myself, nono, that's "peach" in Japanese innit. No wait, that's "momo." Close enough. Momotaro, Peach Boy, Japanese hero of lore born of a giant peach floating down a stream. Japanese are big on peaches too. I'm going with that.

You cannot go wrong with peaches. The bloke wasn't there on my return and I don't care if he comes back from lunch and turns out does not like peaches for some reason possibly fuzz or is allergic, you know how people are. He can give them to somebody else in that case. The young adults who work there at the market agree, you can see them light up when I hand them the bags and tell them all the bags contain the same thing, I did that because they go to different people on my way home.

"You're giving these peaches away to different people?"
"Yes."
"Cool."
"I told them I'm coming here and asked if they want anything and they said no."
"So you're giving them peaches?"
"Yes."

Their eyes brighten, their teeth display pleasantly, they laugh, their faces light up.

"Ha ha. Cool. Good idea. You cannot go wrong with peaches."