Those hands have been peeling peaches for 75 years! My grandma was one of ten brothers and sisters who grew up on a farm in Northeastern Indiana. This time of year, they would get up to seven bushels of peaches at a time, and the five girls would sit on the front porch and peel them for canning, to put up for the winter.  In the summer months, my great-grandma, Margaret Beck, would do all of the baking in the morning on a cook stove.  On special days, she would bake pie.  She used giant pie tins and always made at least two at a time.  My grandma came to stay with my mom this week, the first week for peaches in our area.  I visited one day after work and spent time with her in the kitchen. That night I sat at the table with my mom and grandma and ate peach pie off of my great-grandma’s dish.

Last summer my sister went to a teacher’s workshop in Shipshewana, IN.  She returned with homemade fudge, taffy, cheese curds, pecan brittle, and a story about a homemade fried blueberry pie.  A young Amish mother and her two boys kept a fried pie stand; the boys took the change while the mother served fresh fried pies!  It sounded so delicious that I didn’t forget about it, and since blueberries are in season I had to try it out myself.  I used my grandma’s pie shell recipe and a version of Betty Crocker’s blueberry pie filling with extra lemon juice.  The combination of late spring fruit and fried pastry really felt like summer was underway.  More versions must follow!