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. |
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. |
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.