Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches - on life's little miracles

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Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches
I'm movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches
I'm movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches

Peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man
In a factory downtown
If I had my little way, I'd eat peaches everyday
Sun soaked in bowls just in the shade

Movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches
I'm movin to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches

I took a little nap where the roots all twist
Squished a rotten peach in my fist
And dreamed about you woman
I poked my finger down inside,
makin' a little room for a ant to hide
Nature's candy in my hand or can or a pie

Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free
Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free
Look Out!

Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free
Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free
Look Out!

The above are the Lyrics to The Presidents of USA's 1996 hit 'Peaches'.

Source

If you lived through the ( 80s and the ) 90s, you are likely to remember this earworm of a song - a song that I actually enjoyed quite a lot, back in the days. In fact, I can hear it playing in my head, right now :<)

I am 4 decades old ( or young, depending on your and my perspective ) and the times that I ate peaches that didn't come from a can, can be counted on a couple of hands.

Most of these peaches were dried, though, or bought in France, on Summer holidays.

Since 2018, I am living in Portugal, though, and I actually know people with their own peach trees, including my twin sister.

So I don't need to move to the country any longer to eat (a lot of) peaches. In fact, I am living no campo ( in the countryside )

Today, for the first time in almost half a year, my (rental) house's garden has been trimmed. It took the good man that I hired almost 6 hours. I am grateful to him. He lives nearby and whenever I need him, I can reach out.

In all honesty, I like to see nature grow wild. It sure attracts more birds and insects and other wildlife but, due to fire hazard ( it is already getting pretty warm and dry out here, even though April had a fair amount of rain too ), maintaining your land and trimming it, is a must, unless you want to get fined. Also, it's literally important to not put your neighbors, and yourself, at risk.

After the gardener had left, I spent some time strolling through the freshly mown 0.75 acres, cleaning up a little - removing branches, pulling some cut off brambles and other climbers out of olive and oak trees and looking for some undiscovered gems.

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I Wiehoe!-ed out loud, in delight, when I stood at my one and only little peach tree.

It had seemed sick. I discovered that recently, with curling, infected leaves.

And, although I had treated it kindly, I had not expected to discover this today:

5 baby peaches had magically appeared - seemingly out of nowhere!

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It made me so happy, that I immediately shared it with my parents and siblings, via the messaging app that should not be named.

I was so delighted - in fact - that I thought:

Perhaps I should actually keep renting this place for a lot longer, at least until I have tasted these peaches.


For your information: I have spent a year at this place, so far, and it's for sale, but way above my budget. Aside from that, I have felt, lately, that I should perhaps find myself a tiny house with a decently sized garden with vegetables, herbs and fruit trees. The house where I currently reside feels too big for me.

I also prefer to be outdoors and would love to live in a house that lets in more light, unlike most Portugese houses, that are mainly built to keep the sun ( and light ) out, often leading to humidity issues.


Long story short, it was a pleasant surprise, a little natural miracle, to discover 5 baby peaches ( hardly larger than my thumb nail ), in a garden that mainly consists of brambles, prickly plants, wild fennel, mimosa trees, some cork oaks, grass and - aside from my little vegetable garden - a handful of olive trees, one little fig tree, the mentioned little peach tree, an apple tree and a bunch of other, wild, mainly drought resistant, post fire vegetation.

I also found quite a lot of flowers on this young apple tree ( aside from the one I planted a month or two ago. That one hasn't given me a sign of life, as of yet )

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I spent some time at the peach tree and removed most of the diseased leaves, some of which crumbled inside my hand.

Let me end it with this fun fact:

Yesterday night, after visiting my twin sister, I sent her a message, requiring after some dished ( and dessert ) that we want to eat at our parents' house, in a week or so.

My twin sister and I will be visiting The Netherlands in 6 days time. We will stay for a mere 6 days and spend half of that time at our parents' house. My mom informed us that we should let her know what we would like to eat.

Yesterday my twin sister and I thought up three nostalgic dishes ( for dinner ) and, at night - after I had returned to my place - I thought of two types of dessert that we used to love, back in the days when we still lived at our parents.

Now is it a coincidence that one of those dishes was made of ( canned ) peaches?

I don't think so.

Today, while composing this post, I realized that I had thought of that peach dessert, yesterday night, and now those baby peaches magically appeared, today.

Life is pretty magical, don't you think? :<)


All pictures are taken by me. The top one shows you part of my garden ( at the left side of the dirt road ), with the little peach tree ( with its bright green leaves ) hardly visible, at the lower right of the big olive tree.


Let me end it here with one more picture of the peach tree, with my hand next to it, for scale, to give you an idea of the cuteness ( tiny size of the baby peaches )

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17 comments
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Oh I loved that song and the minute I read the title of your post, I was away singing it lol.
That sure is a wonderful surprise, I would love some peach trees.
And yes to a smaller house and more land. Houses are overrated and also you have to keep them clean, better to spend your time outdoors I say xxxx

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Haha! I knew you would get it and that you would like that song :^)

xx

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Ah, I can feel your enthusiasm!!!! And now I have that bloody song in my head. I hope you post about the peach desert now! Great you can move freely to visit your folks now. And looka t you being excited about gardens - turns out turning 40 has turned you into a wannabe gardener!

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Maybe you could talk to your sister about renting a corner of their property and putting a tiny house on it XD apparently they're easy to construct but I have no actual idea as it was a thing I glanced at out of curiousity once a upon a time.

Ahh that song, my youngest has decided he likes it too.

Yay for peaches! We have a peach tree in our yard, haven't gotten much off it as the birds keep beating us.

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Ok - so although I lived through the 80’s and 90’s -I had to look up the video - needed to hear this song.
I love that you have peaches - I can feel your excitement. I would to have fruit trees one day. For now it is is just a table garden.
You mentioned that you planted an apple tree. Nice that you have done that at a rental property.
Hope you enjoy your nostalgic meals when you return home also the peach dessert.

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Come for the peaches, stay for the ninjas

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Indeed!! Now that I have seen the video - I get it.

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Wiehoe! Wiehoe! I have never heard this but I’m going to name something after it!

The timing 🙃🙃🙃🙃

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Wait! What? You didn't know this song? You didn't know The Presidents of the USA? ;<)

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Oh look at those little darling peaches! So exciting. I would be squealing with glee, as well.

We are pretty lucky here in Georgia (we are the Peach State after all). I can't recall a summer without enjoying fresh peaches. We're getting close to the season now. Can't wait!

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Hi Katie,

I knew you could relate, although I wasn't aware of the fact that you are living in the peach state :^)

I have to go now, to enjoy my mom's apple crumble...

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