Sunday, November 29, 2015

Apples & Pecans Great for Holiday Baking

   We've now harvested all apples, and have many 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush' for sale, plus small amounts of  about 16 other apple varieties and selections.  We also still have some 'Shinko' Asian pears for sale, until they sell out.  I give taste samples of all our apple varieties and Asian pears, to those interested in buying them.
   Harvested apples and Asian pears are kept in top condition in our cooler, set at 34 F, ideal for apples and pears.  So you can come buy harvested apples and Asian pears even when it's raining.
We have many boxes of  'Enterprise' (right box), 'GoldRush' (left box), and 'Enterprise' + 'GoldRush' (middle box) apples for sale.
   'Enterprise' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 6 to 7 months, and 'GoldRush' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 8 to 10 months.  All winter I sort apples from the large storage bins into trays holding 20 pounds each.  We currently have about 1200 pounds of sorted and cleaned apples in these trays, ready to sell.
All winter I clean and sort apples from the large storage bins into trays holding 20 pounds each.  It's 45 to 52 F inside the sales building, so I need to dress warmly.
  Small amounts of harvested apples and Asian pears cost $1.20 per pound + tax.  A 20-lb. box of apples or Asian pears costs $23.15 + tax, which saves $1.00 off the per-pound price.  I harvest apples and Asian pears into two plastic bags per box, so you can get a mixed box of two apple varieties, or one bag of Asian pears and one bag of apples, and still get the 20-lb. discount.
   We also have some harvested 2nds apples, with small bird pecks, cracks or other surface damage.  These are great for making apple butter, pies, breads, or other holiday baking.  Usually 90% to 95% 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 (that's $0.79 per pound + tax), which saves $1.00 off the per-pound price.
2nds apples are great for economical  holiday baking.  I made this apple crostata with caramelized pecan topping for dessert for Thanksgiving dinner.  The recipe is posted as a Note on our Facebook page, Brendas Berries.
   If you buy 40 lbs. of 2nds apples, you save another $1.00 per box, for a total of $4.00 off the per-pound price.  Each 20-lb. box of 2nds apples costs just $14.82 + tax, so that's $29.64 + tax ($0.74 per pound + tax) for 40 lbs. of 2nds apples.
   My husband Bill is now very busy cleaning and cracking pecans for sale.  Further pecan harvest will be delayed for a week due to all the rain.  We now have cracked 'Kanza' pecans for sale, for $15.05 per 5-pound bag + tax.  Bill cracks the pecans, blows off the loose shells, and then weighs the bags to 5 pounds.  So you get the equivalent of 6 pounds of in-shell pecans in each bag, and when you pick out the pecans, you get at least 3 pounds of nutmeats.  Pecan harvest will continue until late January or February, and we should have cracked pecans for sale until late May to June.
   For payment, we accept cash or checks, but NO credit cards or debit cards.  Please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount of fruit and pecans you'll buy.
   Tomorrow, Nov. 30, is the last day of our fall hours: Mon. to Sat. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., & Sundays 1 to 6 p.m.  From Dec. 1 to May 31, we're open by appointment.  That means to phone 620-597-2450 a day ahead, and leave a message on the answering machine saying the day and about what time you're coming.  I will get the message and meet you in the sales building when you come.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

All Apples Harvested, Pecan Harvest Continues

"All is safely gathered in, 
before the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide 
for our wants to be supplied.
Come, ye thankful people, come,
Praise the God of harvest home."

   We praise God that yesterday afternoon, Sat. Nov. 21, we finished harvesting all remaining 'GoldRush' apples plus a few 'Enterprise' apples that were left on the trees.  Our 6 workers, my husband Bill and I harvested over 2000 pounds of apples in 4 hours, despite a temperature of 37 F all afternoon.  We got the apples in before the 23 F freeze that occurred this morning.
Brandon Ledford (left) and Luke Laws (right) added 'GoldRush' apples they harvested to the large storage bins in the trailer, while Ben Miller (far right) and our other workers Tim Epler, Skyler England and Tanner Mix all picked apples.
   We now have over 9000 pounds of apples in our two coolers.  The second cooler was just installed 2 weeks ago.  So we will have top-quality 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush' apples for sale until late May or June.
   'Enterprise' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 6 to 7 months, and 'GoldRush' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 8 to 10 months.  All winter I sort apples from the large storage bins into trays holding 20 pounds each.  We currently have about 1000 pounds of sorted and cleaned apples in these trays, ready to sell.
   Besides plenty of 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush', we have small amounts of about 16 other apple varieties and selections for sale.  We also still have many 'Shinko' Asian pears for sale for about 2 more weeks, until they sell out.  I give taste samples of all our apple varieties and Asian pears, to those interested in buying them.
   Small amounts of harvested apples and Asian pears cost $1.20 per pound + tax.  A 20-lb. box of apples or Asian pears costs $23.15 + tax, which saves $1.00 off the per-pound price.  I harvest apples and Asian pears into two plastic bags per box, so you can get a mixed box of two apple varieties, or one bag of Asian pears and one bag of apples, and still get the 20-lb. discount.
   We also have some harvested 2nds apples, with small bird pecks, cracks or other surface damage.  These are great for making apple butter, pies, breads, or other holiday baking.  Usually 90% to 95% 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
I made this apple pecan bread last night, for the Bread Breakfast we have each year at Center Christian Church on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving.  The recipe is posted as a Note on our Facebook page, Brendas Berries, along with many other recipes using apples and pecans.
   Pecan harvest resumed late last week after the ground dried from the 3.35 inches of rain we got early last week.  My husband Bill is now very busy harvesting, cleaning and cracking the pecans for sale.  We now have cracked 'Kanza' pecans for sale, for $15.05 per 5-pound bag + tax.
   Bill cracks the pecans, blows off the loose shells, and then weighs the bags to 5 pounds.  So you get the equivalent of 6 pounds of in-shell pecans in each bag, and when you pick out the pecans, you get at least 3 pounds of nutmeats.  Pecan harvest will continue until January or February, and we should have cracked pecans for sale until mid-May.
We now have cracked 'Kanza' pecans for sale, for $15.05 per 5-pound bag + tax. 
   For payment, we accept cash or checks, but NO credit cards or debit cards.  Please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount of fruit and pecans you'll buy.
   Until Nov. 30, we're still open our fall hours: Mon. to Sat. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., & Sundays 1 to 6 p.m.  From Dec. 1 to May 31, we're open by appointment.  That means to phone 620-597-2450 a day ahead, and leave a message on the answering machine saying the day and about what time you're coming.  I will get the message and meet you in the sales building when you come.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Apple Harvest Finishing, Pecan Harvest Starting

The Jones family had fun picking 'Enterprise' apples on Mon. afternoon Nov. 9.  Come in the next few days if you want to pick 'Enterprise' apples.
   We still offer pick-your-own apples for the next 10 days or so.  If you want to pick 'Enterprise' apples, come this week, as I hope to finish harvesting all the 'Enterprise' by Sat. afternoon Nov. 14.  The 'Enterprise' crop is much larger than last year, so we're still picking them.  'GoldRush' pick-your-own harvest continues until about Nov. 18 to 21.
'GoldRush' apples are still ripening, so 'GoldRush' pick-your-own harvest continues until about Nov. 18 to 21.
   Besides 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush', we have about 18 other apple varieties and selections for sale as harvested apples.  We still have many 'Shinko' Asian pears for sale for about 2 more weeks, until they sell out.  I give taste samples of all our apple varieties and Asian pears, to those interested in buying them.
   Harvested apples and pears are kept in top condition in our cooler, set at 34 F, ideal for apples and pears.  So you can come buy harvested apples and pears even when it's raining.
    We've now harvested 100 large bins of apples, mostly 'Enterprise' plus a few 'GoldRush', for winter storage.  Last Saturday afternoon two of our workers and I harvested over 1000 pounds of 'Enterprise' apples in 4 1/2 hours.  Today I harvested over 500 pounds of 'Enterprise' apples myself.
A few days ago I harvested these large bins of  'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush' apples for winter storage.
   'Enterprise' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 6 to 7 months, and 'GoldRush' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 8 to 10 months.  All winter I sort apples from these bins into trays holding 20 pounds each.  We currently have about 1200 pounds of sorted and cleaned apples in these trays, ready to sell.  For prices, scroll down 3 posts.
We now have cracked 'Osage' pecans for sale.  This is our earliest pecan variety.
   We're expecting a good crop of pecans this year.  We just started harvesting pecans, and just started cleaning and cracking the pecans for sale.  We now have cracked 'Osage' pecans for sale.  Cracked 'Kanza' pecans should start in mid-late Nov. once we get a hard freeze of 26 F or lower.  We should have cracked pecans for sale until mid-May.
   For payment, we accept cash or checks, but NO credit cards or debit cards.  Please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount of fruit and pecans you'll buy. 

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Last Week for Pick-Your-Own 'Enterprise' Apples, Many Harvested

  We still offer pick-your-own apples for the next 2 to 3 weeks or so.  If you want to pick 'Enterprise' apples, come this week, as I hope to finish  harvesting all the 'Enterprise' by Nov. 7 or 8.  'GoldRush' pick-your-own harvest continues until about Nov. 15 to 18.
   We still have not had our first fall frost, though it got down to 36 F last Thursday and Friday mornings.  Apples are so high in sugars that they do not freeze until  it gets down to 24 or 25 F.  We usually keep harvesting 'GoldRush'apples until about Thanksgiving, since they ripen so late.
I hope to finish  harvesting all the 'Enterprise' by Nov. 7 or 8, so come this week if you want to pick your own 'Enterprise' apples.
   Today I started harvesting 'Enterprise' apples into large bins for winter storage.  We have 100 of these bins that hold about 30 pounds each, so we can store about 3000 pounds of apples in these.  'Enterprise' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 6 to 7 months, and 'GoldRush' apples keep well in our cooler or a fridge for 8 to 10 months.  All winter I sort apples from these bins into trays holding 20 pounds each.  We currently have about 2000 pounds of sorted and cleaned apples in these trays, ready to sell.
   Besides 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush', we have about 18 other apple varieties and selections for sale as harvested apples.  We still have a few harvested 'Luscious' European pears for sale for about 1 more week, and many 'Shinko' Asian pears for sale for about 3 more weeks, until they sell out.  I give taste samples of all our apple and pear varieties, to those interested in buying them.  For prices, scroll down 2 posts.
   Small amounts of everbearing red raspberries are still ripening now until the first frost, so those coming for apples may also pick raspberries.
   We're expecting a good crop of pecans this year.  We haven't been able to start harvesting pecans yet, since we haven't yet had a freeze to open the shucks, and all the rain and foggy weather has kept the pecans too wet to harvest.  Once pecan harvest starts, the pecans have to be cleaned and cracked for sale.  We hope to have cracked pecans for sale starting about Nov. 14, and should have them until mid-May.
   For payment, we accept cash or checks, but NO credit cards or debit cards.  Please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount of fruit you'll buy.
   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 very busy harvesting apples now, and often can't see the driveway from the orchard.  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.