Many 2nds Apples for Sale

   We still have many harvested 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush' apples for sale now and for the next 3 to 4 months, until late June or early July.  Our #1 apples, with no damage, sell just as fast as I sort them, so you do need to phone 620-597-2450 a day ahead and order them.
   We have many 2nds apples for sale, with small cracks, cork spots, hail damage, or other surface damage.  These are great for baking, slicing for salads, or for making applesauce or apple butter.  Usually 95% to 99% of each fruit is still usable, but they're 70% or less the cost.  Many recipes featuring apples and pecans are posted as Notes on our Facebook page, Brendas Berries.
   We've reduced the price on 40 lb. or more of 2nds apples.  When you buy two or more boxes, each 20-lb. box of 2nds apples costs just $16.67 + tax ($0.83 per pound + tax), so that's $33.34 + tax  for 40 lbs. of 2nds apples.

This batch of apple butter is cooking down in our crockpot right now. Bill started it early Mon. morning before going to work, and I stir it every 1/2 hour or so between my computer work this morning, and sorting the sales buildingapples in the sales building in thethis afternoon.  Bill win can it tonight.

    My husband Bill makes apple butter that we sell, from the 3rds apples we harvested last fall and still have in our cooler.  He uses about 28 pounds of apples to fill a large crockpot, cooks the apple mixture down to about 2/3 its volume over about 36 hours, and fills about 7 pint jars per batch.  So if you buy two boxes (40 lb.) of 2nds apples to make apple butter, you'll get about 10 pint jars of it.  Apple butter is almost 90% apples, with just a small amount of brown sugar and spices, so it's a fat-free alternative to spread on toast instead of butter.
   We're still selling our last and largest pecan variety, 'Pawnee'.  We sell our papershell pecans in 4-pound bags that contain at least 75% pecan kernels, so you get the equivalent of at least 6 pounds of in-shell pecans in each bag.  These pecans are very fast and easy to pick out, and when you pick out the pecans, you get over 3 pounds of nutmeats.  We still have enough pecans for about 160 bags, and we'll have cracked pecans for sale until we sell out, probably till mid- to late May.
   Scroll up to the blog post dated April 5 for apple and pecan prices and photos.
   Our plumcot trees are in full bloom now.  Tomorrow morning it should be 33 F, but that temperature won't hurt the plumcot flowers.  Plumcot trees set so many fruit buds that a light frost would provide beneficial fruit thinning.  So hopefully we'll have a plumcot crop this year.

Our two plumcot trees are in full bloom now. The peach trees behind them are in the swollen bud stage now, but many of our peach varieties had most fruit buds killed by mid-winter cold, so will have very few blooms and a very light crop this year.

   This past winter, temperatures dropped to -8 F, which killed most peach fruit buds on many of our peach varieties.  It looks like our winter-hardiest peach varieties -- 'Intrepid', 'Contender', 'Carolina Gold', and 'China Pearl' -- have enough remaining live buds for a good peach crop, if we make it through the next 3 weeks of frost season without excessive damage.  Our peach trees are all still in the swollen bud stage now, so won't bloom until late this week or next week, when it will be warmer.
   We're still open by appointment until May 31.  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, so I'll get your message when I come in from working in the the sales building or orchard.  Then I'll meet you in the sales building when you arrive here.
   (Don't wait to call until you're on your way here, or I probably won't get your message before you arrive here.  When I'm out planting fruit trees or pruning, I can't always see or hear vehicles come in if I'm not expecting you.)
   You can make an appointment for between 9:00 and 11:45 a.m. or between 1:00 and 5:15 p.m. Mon. to Sat., and between 1:30 and 5:15 p.m. Sundays.  We're closed every Sunday morning, year-round, for church.