When I was a child, my family vacations almost always involved a 1970′s motorhome, three dogs, and a big sense of adventure. My father was a salesman, so family vacations could conveniently be tied together with business trips and we would drive all over the West Coast from town to town for weeks at a time in the summer.

One of my many summer vacation memories involves driving through the beautiful Naches Valley of Washington State in late August and seeing a sign for fresh peaches by the side of the road. We turned off the highway and headed up a long gravel drive, finally ending up at a peach orchard. Crates of freshly picked peaches were stacked by the small parking lot, and a sign said 25 lbs for $10. We picked out a crate, hauled it into the motorhome and continued on our way. About fifteen minutes later, the entire vehicle was filled with the most distinct and fragrant smell of perfectly ripe, sun-warmed peaches. It was intoxicating. At our next stop we all dove into the crate and picked out big ripe peaches. I remember crowding over the little sink and biting into a peach so full of juice it ran down my arms and dripped off my elbows. They were the best peaches I’ve ever eaten.

Since that memorable peach, I’ve always searched for ripe peaches at the end of summer. Hopeful that somehow I might find a peach that can live up to the memory of the Wenatchee peaches. Once I moved to the Midwest, I became less optimistic about finding great peaches, since I was that much farther from any peach orchards. And then Mr. B came home with these.

The Rocky Mountain Peach Company is one of those neat family owned businesses that values quality above quantity and can produce the peaches I dream about. The Rocky Mountain Peach company hand packs their peaches right in the orchard allowing the peaches to ripen a lot more than the ones you’ll see in the store which are mechanically picked and packed. The peaches arrive in varying stages of ripeness – some need to be eaten immediately and others can last a few weeks in the fridge, they even arrive with tips for proper peach care. This allows you to enjoy a few weeks of fantastically ripe peaches and take advantage of the shipping costs by ordering a big box. The company will partner with non-profits and schools to sell the peaches as a fundraiser (how cool is that?). They sell the peaches in bulk shipments at an affordable price that then allows groups to tack on $5-$10 to support their organization, while still keeping the final price around $25-$28 per box.