Apple Harvest in Full Swing

   Many pick-your-own 'Enterprise' apples are ripe now, and many people have come to pick them over the last 2 weeks.  'Enterprise' harvest continues until about Nov. 2.  A few 'Sundance' and 'GoldRush' apples are starting to ripen, and 'GoldRush' pick-your-own harvest goes from about Oct. 15 to about Nov. 15.

'GoldRush' apples are starting to ripen, and 'GoldRush' pick-your-own harvest goes from about Oct. 15 to about Nov. 15.

   Mondays to Thursdays are good uncrowded times to pick apples, for those who are able to come then.  Many people come to pick apples on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday afternoons, when the weather is nice as it has been lately.

The Chaney family had fun picking over 92 pounds of 'Enterprise' apples on Sat. Oct. 10.  Picking apples at our orchard is an annual outing for the Chaneys and many other families.

   I'm harvesting 'Enterprise' and several other apple varieties, and have these for sale.  Some of these are from the cooperative apple breeding program that produced 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush', such as Coop 34 (not yet named), 'Sundance', and 'Scarlet O'Hara'.  Most are from my own breeding program, which uses apple varieties immune to apple scab disease as parents.  I've selected several dozen seedlings for further testing, and have named 14 apple selections so far.

'Pink Sun' (left box) and 'Sunspot' (right box) are 2 of the 14 apple selections I've named so far from my apple breeding program.  Both have 'Sundance' as one parent, so I use "Sun" in the names.  Most customers who have tasted these have loved them, so most apples of these selections have sold already, but we have other selections.

   We still have many harvested 'Luscious' European pears and 'Shinko' Asian pears for sale.  I finished harvesting all the pears on Oct. 2, so we'll have them for sale until they sell out, about 2 more weeks.  I give taste samples of all our apple and pear varieties, to those interested in buying them.
   Small amounts of harvested pears and apples cost $1.20 per pound + tax.  A 20-lb. box of pears or apples costs $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 European and Asian pears, or one bag of pears and one bag of apples, and still get the 20-lb. discount.
   We also usually have a few harvested 2nds apples, with small bird pecks, cracks or other surface damage.  These are great for baking or for making apple butter or pies.  Usually about 90% of the fruit is still usable, but they're 60% the cost at $0.83 per pound + tax.  A 20-lb. box of 2nds apples costs $15.74 + tax, which saves $1.00 off the per-pound price. We also have some 2nds Asian pears, but all 2nds of European pears have sold.
   Smaller amounts of pick-your-own apples are $0.93 per pound + tax for #1's and $0.69 per pound + tax for #2's.  For 40 lbs. or more total of #1 and #2 pick-your-own apples, the price goes down to $0.88 per pound + tax for #1's and $0.65 per pound + tax for #2's. 
   From Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 we're open our fall hours: Mon. to Sat. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., & Sundays 1 to 6 p.m.  I'm still very busy harvesting apples in 3 different orchards around the farm, and often can't see the driveway from the orchards.  While harvesting, I put up a sign on the sales building, saying to ring the bell.  (Ring it loudly, once or twice.)  I hear that and come to the sales building.