Still Many Blackberries & Peaches Ripening

   All 4 of our thornless blackberry varieties still have many ripe berries to pick now.  'Natchez' produces huge blackberries, very popular especially for making cobblers, and they will continue ripening for the next week or so.  'Apache' berries are almost as big and are also great for making cobblers, and are loaded with ripe fruit now and for the next 10 days to 2 weeks.

Three members of the Rather family, including Gail (left) and Jace (right), picked 18 quarts of 'Apache' thornless blackberries in 30 minutes a couple days ago.

   'Ouachita' blackberries are also ripe now and for the next 10 days to 2 weeks.  'Ouachita' berries are medium-sized with great flavor, especially good in pies and in fruit salads where a larger blackberry would be too big for the other fruits in the salad.  'Triple Crown' blackberries are large, have the smallest seeds and are the juiciest, so they're especially good for making jams and jellies.  'Triple Crown' is our latest-ripening blackberry variety.  There's a good amount ripe now, and they will continue ripening for the next 3 weeks, and they'll be heavy with fruit until about Aug. 5.
   Thornless blackberries are sold pick-your-own only.  They cost $2.55 per quart + tax, pick-your-own.  There are NO chiggers, and you can pick a quart of blackberries in 5 minutes.  We provide containers, and just ask that you return the containers to us for reuse on your next trip to Brenda's Berries.
   Weekday mornings are great times to come for those able to do so.  Come early to beat the heat.  We open at 7:30 a.m. Mon.-Sat. for berry pickers, but those who want only peaches should arrive after 9 a.m. to give our workers time to pick the peaches.  We're closed from 12 noon to 7:00 p.m.  We're open 7-9 p.m. each evening, but call 620-597-2450 in the afternoon to be sure we'll have peaches that evening.
    Peaches are sold harvested; we do not allow customers to pick peaches.  Our trained workers harvest peaches each morning Mon.-Sat. when it's not raining.  Some days fewer peaches are ripe, and we may sell out by late morning or early evening.  We often have no peaches to sell on Sun. evening, since our workers do not pick peaches on Sun. morning as we're closed for church.

We're now harvesting many 'Glowingstar' yellow peaches, and we'll continue harvesting them for another week.

   We grow 17 different peach varieties that provide a succession of ripening over 2 months.  Each variety ripens over a 10-day to 2-week period.  We're now harvesting mostly 'Glowingstar' yellow peaches, and we'll continue harvesting them for another week.  We should start harvesting 'Carolina Gold' yellow peaches and 'China Pearl' white peaches early next week, and those will continue for about 2 weeks, until about Aug. 5.  Peach season will end almost 3 weeks earlier than the average date this year, since it started almost 3 weeks earlier than the average date.
   I give taste samples of the varieties ripe at each time.  All these peaches are freestone.  Small amounts of peaches cost $1.30 per pound + tax.  We pick directly into 20-lb. boxes, which I then weigh to exactly 20.0 lbs., so you save $1.00 if you buy a 20-lb. box of peaches for $25.00 + tax (when we have them).  We also usually have some nice 2nds peaches with small hail-damaged spots or other surface damage, which sell for just $0.74 per pound + tax.
   Have your vehicle cleaned out so there's room to put trays of berries and peach boxes or bags.  These fruits travel best in open trays, where they receive air conditioning from the vehicle, not in a car trunk or in an ice chest, so don't take up room in the vehicle with an ice chest.  We keep our cooler at 50 F, ideal for peaches, as they can get chilling injury at temperatures below 50 F or if put directly on ice.  Once you get them home, both blackberries and peaches keep well for 10 days in a refrigerator.