Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Praise God for Bountiful Harvests

   Our workers and I finished harvesting all remaining 'Enterprise' apples 10 days ago, and we now have over 8000 pounds of harvested 'Enterprise' apples in our two coolers.  Our workers and I harvested many 'GoldRush' apples over the past few days, and we'll finish harvesting the rest of the 'GoldRush' apples this Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Right now we have over 2000 pounds of harvested 'GoldRush' apples in our coolers, and we should have over 3000 pounds of 'GoldRush' apples once harvest is complete.
Our large storage cooler is now almost filled with bins of harvested 'Enterprise' apples (red apples at left) and 'Goldrush' apples (yellow apples at right).  I sort apples from these bins into trays for sale all winter and spring. 'GoldRush' apples 'GoldRush' apples
   All winter and spring I
sort the apples we have harvested into trays of #1 apples (practically perfect) and #2 apples with some cracks, hail damage, cork spot, or other surface damage.  The #2 apples are great for baking or for making applesauce or apple butter.  Over the past few days, #1 apples are selling as fast as I get them sorted, but we have a good supply of #2 apples. 
I sorted apples from bins into trays for sale all day today.  It was 38 F inside the sales building when I started this morning (and 23 F outside), so I need to dress warmly.he sales building
   We'll have many harvested 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush' apples for sale for the next 7 months or so, until late June.  'Enterprise' apples are sweet-tart, crisp and juicy, great for fresh eating and for making pies, applesauce, apple butter, etc.  They keep well in a refrigerator for 6 to 7 months.  'GoldRush' apples keep well in a refrigerator for 8 to 10 months, and get sweeter after at least one month in cold storage, as starches convert into sugars.
My husband Bill spends many hours running our pecan cracking machine. The pecans are cracked on the far right of the machine, then Bill picks out any damaged pecans as they go up the conveyor belt.  Most of the loose shells are blown off and go into the blue bin at left, while cracked pecans fall into the yellow bucket.
   We've finished harvesting pecans now, and my husband Bill is very busy cleaning and cracking the pecans for sale.  We now have cracked 'Kanza' pecans for sale.  We should have cracked pecans for sale until late April to May.
Our cracked 'Kanza' pecan bags contain over 75% nutmeats and less than 25% shells, since most of the shell fragments were blown off by our high-efficiency pecan cracking machine.
   Apple and pecan prices are detailed on our price sheets and in the previous blog post (scroll down).
   We're still open our fall hours until Nov. 30: open 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat., and Sundays 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. From Dec. 1 to May 31, as the sidebar at left says, we're open by appointment.  That means, during Dec. to May, to phone 620-597-2450 a day ahead and leave a message on the answering machine with your name, the crops you want, and the day and time you're coming. The phone rings in the house, and I'll get your message when I come in from working in the orchard or the sales building.  Then I'll meet you in the sales building when you arrive here.
   We're open our regular fall hours over Thanksgiving weekend (Fri. Nov. 24 to Sun. Nov 26).  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, praising God for the bounty He provides and for sending us our Savior Jesus.