Lots of Fresh Asparagus for Sale

   We have lots of fresh asparagus for sale, now until late May.  These are nice thick spears, and I snap asparagus off where it breaks easily, so almost the entire spear is tender and usable.  Asparagus is sold harvested for $2.78 per pound + tax.  Phone 620-597-2450 to order asparagus, and leave a message on the answering machine saying when you're coming for it.
  We also still have many apples and pecans for sale.  Just phone 620-597-2450 a day in advance, and leave a message on the answering machine saying your name and the day and approximate time you're coming to get them.
   The phone rings in the house, and I check for messages when I come in from working in the orchards or sorting apples in the sales building.  When the weather's nice it's especially important to call a day ahead, as I can't always see the driveway from some parts of the fruit plantings, and when I'm working on a tractor I can't hear vehicles come in if you just drop by.

'Natchez' blackberry canes have started blooming, and raspberry plants are blooming also.

   I've been very busy lately pruning apple and pear trees, pruning raspberry and blackberry canes and tying them to the trellis wires, applying herbicides to raspberry and blackberry rows, and picking asparagus twice each day.  Raspberry plants are blooming, as are 'Natchez' and 'Ouachita' blackberry plants, so berry ripening seasons this year should start earlier than average, as shown in the fruit harvest seasons sidebar at left.  Soon we will start thinning the young peaches.

These 'Contender' peaches set a pretty good crop despite frosts during bloom, praise God.  Soon we will start thinning the excess young peaches where several fruit set close together, as in the bottom right of the photo.

   Small amounts of harvested apples cost $1.20 per pound + tax.  A 20-lb. box of apples costs $23.15 + tax, which saves $1.00 off the per-pound price.  I pack harvested apples into two plastic bags per box, so you can get a mixed box of one bag of each of two different varieties of apples, and still get the 20-lb. discount.
   We have many harvested 2nds apples, great for baking or for making apple butter.  Usually 90 to 95% of the fruit is still usable, but they're 69% the cost at $0.83 per pound + tax.  A 20-lb. box of harvested 2nds apples costs just  $15.74 + tax ($0.79 per pound + tax), which saves $8.00 off a 20-lb. box of #1 apples.  If you get 40 lbs. of 2nds apples, the price goes down to just $0.74 per pound + tax ($14.82 + tax per 20-lb. box).
   We also still have cracked 'Kanza' pecans for sale.  'Kanza' pecans are known for cracking out almost entirely in intact kernels, and our new high-efficiency pecan cracking machine cracks this variety so well that 2/3 of the shells are removed by the blower.  The price for pecans is $15.28 per bag + tax.  Each bag has the equivalent of 6 pounds of in-shell pecans, and when you pick them out, you get at least 3 pounds of nutmeats.