Millions of peaches.

I think we may have made an official tradition: fruit picking on my birthday weekend. This year was extra special, with a trip to my first peach grove. I won't further belabor the point about how much I love peaches, but I was in stone fruit heaven.

Ward's Berry Farm is a fabulous farm whose bins overflow with enormous pumpkins, fat butternut squashes, perfectly sour Concord grapes, and, of course, jewel-like berries. We got lucky: the weather was gorgeous, we had a very nice (unofficial) tour guide, and I think we picked the very last of all of New England's peaches. Our guide walked us through the back areas of the operation, tossing plump cherry tomatoes at us and cutting off pieces of ripe fruit with a pocket knife. He showed us what we were looking for in a ripe peach:

• barely firm fruit that "gives" with a (very) slight squeeze
• a warm, fuzzy, sun-warmed fragrance
• and the most important thing -- in addition to a nice rosy blush, a sunny yellow undertone. (Even if a greenish-yellow foundation is blooming red, it might just be pretending, as the redness is attributed to exposure to the sun...only part of the ripening process.)

Our friend advised us that we would find some of the best peaches on the ground -- just brush off the (dry) soil, and voila. Occasionally we would have to fight Nature for a really good-looking one, but sometimes we would also get lucky and hear the soft thud of a just-ripe peach before it had been claimed. We also found plenty on the tree after all, but it was quite different from other fruit-picking experiences I've had.

We did a pretty good job. (Don't worry, these aren't all mine.)

We threw a few on the grill with our fellow peach-pickers: ("marinated" first)

And I whipped up a batch of brown-butter peach scones when I got home. The scones were a little more like a quick bread than a scone (I prefer my scones with a good crust all around), but they were delicious nonetheless. Big sugar crystals on top give a nice crunch.

*

Brown-Butter Peach Scones

from AskChefDennis.com and Tutti Dolci

Makes 2 dozen

10 T unsalted butter

4 c all-purpose flour

2/3 c sugar

4 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

2 c diced peaches

1 1/3 c low-fat buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla extract

1 T turbinado sugar

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it foams, turns clear, and then turns a deep brown, about 6 min. Pour browned butter into a glass dish and chill in the freezer until solid and chilled, about 1½ hr.

Preheat oven to 400*F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Dice chilled brown butter into small pieces; sprinkle over flour mixture and use a pastry cutter to cut in evenly until mixture resembles coarse meal. Dry peaches between layers of paper towels; add to flour mixture, folding in gently.

Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract in a small bowl; add to flour mixture and fold in just until incorporated. Use a floured bench scraper (or rubber spatula) to scrape dough out onto prepared baking sheet; generously flour hands and pat dough into an 1.5" thick round.

Score deeply into 24-48 pieces (depending on what size you want) with a knife; sprinkle dough with turbinado sugar. Bake 20-25 min., or until golden. Cool 2 min. on baking sheet, then carefully transfer to wire rack to cool before cutting completely.