A Peachy Adventure

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

I suspect U-pick farms are like Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence. Remember how crafty Tom got his friends to pay for the privilege of doing his chore?

We city dwellers will gladly pay to work as farmhands to pick crops for the pleasure of breathing in fresh country air and getting in touch with nature. Aside from a fun outing, there are other good reasons to pick your own. What could be fresher than fruit plucked right off the trees? And certainly picking your own is substantially cheaper than market prices.

So last week, the whole family piled into two cars and headed to Brentwood in East Contra Costa County, about an hour and a half’s drive from San Francisco, where U-pick farms and roadside stands abound. Having reviewed the Brentwood Harvest Time website, we selected Wolfe Ranch, a well-manicured orchard and home to Elberta peaches, for our farm experience.

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