Tomorrow starts our fall hours. From Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, we're open Mon. to Sat. 8:00
a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Sundays 1 to 6 p.m. only.
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| 'Blake's Pride' European pears are ripening plentifully now, and I have many picked and ready to sell. These pears are very large and have a smooth texture and wonderful flavor. |
'Blake's Pride' and 'Luscious' European pears are ripening plentifully now, so I'm very busy harvesting them. I'm also harvesting some 'Shinko' Asian pears and several early apple varieties, plus 'Flameprince' peaches. All my workers are back in high school and college now, so I only have their help on Saturday mornings and school holidays such as Labor Day.
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| 'Flameprince' is the last of our 17 peach varieties to ripen. Our workers harvested some this past Saturday, and I harvest them on weekdays. |
I'm harvesting all these fruits from 4 different orchards around the farm, and can't see the driveway from 3 of these orchards. I put a sign on the sales building door while harvesting fruit, to ring the bell on the post. I can hear that from the orchard and come to the sales building.
Small amounts of peaches, pears, and apples all cost $1.20 per pound + tax. A 20-lb. box of peaches, pears, or apples all cost $23.15 + tax, which saves $1.00 off the per-pound price. I harvest pears and apples into two plastic bags per box, so you can get a mixed box of one bag of pears and one bag of apples and still get the 20-lb. discount.
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| We have a few #1 'Gala' apples (left box) for sale, and many #1 'Jonafree' apples (right box). Excess rain caused many 'Gala' apples to crack, so there are many 2nds 'Gala' apples. |
We
also have some 2nds pears and many 2nds 'Gala' apples, with rain cracks or other surface damage, which sell for $0.83 per pound
+ tax. Our pick-your-own apple season runs from
mid-Sept. to mid-Nov.
We still have some 'China Pearl' white peaches for sale. These are low in acid so
taste sweeter than yellow peaches. We'll have 'Flameprince' yellow peaches for sale until about Sept. 10.
