Tuesday morning I rolled into work and the message light was already blinking on my phone.

That's never a good sign.

It was Theresa High, wondering where the heck I was on Monday afternoon. See, I was supposed to help her develop a peach jam recipe, and I had completely forgotten.

So Tuesday night at 7:00 I was driving out East Orchard Mesa to High Country Orchards, listening to Elvis Costello and trying to stay on the pavement through all those devilish 90-degree turns.

Theresa and her husband, Scott, own High Country Orchards where they are quickly gaining a reputation for producing the best peaches in the best peach growing region in the country. Theresa has endless energy, or at least way more than I do. Most people would be content with raising a crop of peaches and getting them to market. Not her. Each season seems to bring new developments at the orchard and now they have an attractive farm market building, a state-of-the-art  packing and sorting shed, tour carts, an extensive garden, and everything neat as a pin. I hear next year they plan to begin bottling their own wine. (Scott's other job, when he's not a farmer, is in the wine business.)

This year saw the addition of a commercial kitchen designed for production canning, which brings me to my adventure across East Orchard Mesa. I managed to arrive safely at High Country and found Theresa in her shiny new kitchen ready to make jam. This week she is in the middle of producing several thousand jars of Peach Salsa, apparently all from produce grown on the property. A quick tour revealed stacks of tomato bins, buckets filled with peppers, and crates of peaches in a large cooler.

Theresa was anxious to get a batch of Peach Jalapeno Jam going as she was literally "down to her last jar" in stock. We formulated a recipe, calculated the amount of each ingredient, and fired up the new gas range for the first time. An hour later, we were admiring 10 jars of hot, bright peach jam flecked with green and red jalapenos.

Last month the Obama family toured High Country Orchards. While the jam cooled, Theresa shared a few photos of their visit with me. They picked peaches and were treated to a peach recipe demonstration. By all accounts, they had a great time on the farm and indicated everyone ate Palisade Peaches as they flew on Air Force One to their next stop, the Grand Canyon.

I took a jar of the jam home with me, and the next evening I tried it on crackers with Brie cheese. Last night, Lisa and I tried it with Mesquite smoked pork tenderloin. Both preparations were great. The sweetness of the peaches is nicely balanced with the warmth of the jalapenos. This Monday, Theresa plans to go into volume production on the Peach Jalapeno Jam. I think the Obamas may have to come back to pick up a jar or two.