They said it couldn't be done

Peaches in Idaho, that is. We planted this tree as a cheap bare-root sapling right before Annalee was born, in early spring of 2008. We also planted a cherry tree at the same time. That year the cherry tree produced a few token fruit, but the peach tree didn't even flower.

In 2009 the cherry tree made quite a bit of fruit for its size and the peach tree made three blossoms. Which fell off when someone hit it with the lawnmower.

This year the cherry tree kept us very busy devising ways to keep the birds away from all the fruit, and the peach tree finally flowered. And then it started to grow fruit! We had about 18 small green fruit to begin with, and by Fall we were down to 11. Because of the late Spring I worried continually that our fruit would freeze before it ever ripened. I looked all over the internet for information on protecting peach trees from frost, but all I could find were ways to protect the blossoms from late Spring frosts, not ways to protect the fruit from Fall frost. Several times I went out and wrapped plastic bags around each little globe to keep it safe until morning. We were down to 8. I agonized over whether it was time to pick them or not. With only 8 fruit it's not like I had lots of extras to be tasting one every few days to see if they were ready. And from my research I learned that--unlike most other fruit--peaches DO NOT continue to ripen after they are off the tree. They get softer, but they don't get one bit sweeter! (Which explains why I never like the store-bought peaches: they taste like cardboard! So I waited, and waited. I wrapped the trunk of the tree in fleece. And waited. And finally it seemed that winter was really coming, and I would lose the fruit if I didn't pick it.

So we chose one and cut it into slices, and bit in. Nathan and I looked at each other, our eyes lighting up as sweet juice flowed into our mouths. This was the best peach we had ever tasted! We rushed back out with flashlights to pick the rest of them. We enjoyed each precious fruit as a fine dessert over the next week.

And all our neighbors told us you couldn't grow peaches in East Idaho!