Pick-Your-Own Berry Season Starts June 4

   A very few red raspberries have started gaining size and coloring, and these should be ready to pick in about a week.  We'll open the red raspberry row for pick-your-own harvest on June 4, when there should be a fairly good amount of ripe red raspberries to pick.

A very few 'Reveille' red raspberries have started gaining size and coloring.
We'll  open the red raspberry row for pick-your-own harvest on June 4.

   Purple raspberries, black raspberries and thornless blackberries are still blooming.  It takes about 1 month from bloom to harvest for raspberries, and about 6 weeks from bloom to harvest for blackberries.  The sidebar at left shows the expected ripe dates for all types of raspberries and thornless blackberries.
   All types of raspberries cost $2.32 per pint + sales tax, pick-your-own, and are sold pick-your-own only.  Thornless blackberries, once they start ripening, will cost $2.78 per quart + sales tax, pick-your-own, and are sold pick-your-own only.

'Natchez' thornless blackberries thornless blackberries are still blooming, and the earliest-set blackberries will start ripening about June 20.

   We provide containers for picking berries.  We appreciate it if you return these containers to us for reuse, on your next trip to Brenda's Berries & Orchards.  Please also bring back any peach boxes of ours that you may still have, so we can reuse them, hopefully next year.  Thanks.
   You do not need an appointment from June 1 to Aug. 31, just come during our open hours.  However, if planning to come during the first few days of each crop's ripening, it's a good idea to call a day ahead and check how the berries are ripening.  Please arrive at a time that allows you to finish picking by our closing time.  Thanks.
   From June 1 to Aug. 31 (as shown in the sidebar at left), we're open our summer hours: open 7:30 a.m.-12 noon & 7-9 p.m. Mon.-Sat., and Sundays 7-9 p.m. only.  We're closed noon-7 p.m. every day due to high summer heat, and closed Sunday morning for church.
   Through May 31, as shown in the sidebar at left, we're open by appointment.  That means, until May 31, 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 orchard or the sales building.  Then I'll meet you in the sales building when you arrive here.
   We still have lots of asparagus for sale now and for the next 2 to 3 weeks, until early to mid-June.  Asparagus is sold harvested, still for $2.78 per pound + tax.
   We still have many harvested 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush' apples for sale now and for the next 6 to 8 weeks or so.  Our #1 apples, with no damage, sell just as fast as I sort them (when it's raining), so you do need to phone 620-597-2450 a day or more ahead and order them.  Small amounts of harvested #1 apples cost $1.30 per pound + tax.  A 20-lb. box of #1 apples costs $25.00 + tax ($1.25 per pound + tax), which saves $1.00 off the per-pound price.
   We have many 2nds apples, 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, at $0.93 per pound + tax for less than 20 pounds and $0.88 per pound + tax for 20 pounds.  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. 
   We're still selling our largest pecan variety, 'Pawnee'.  We sell our papershell pecans in 4-pound bags, which cost $16.67 per bag + tax.  These pecan bags 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 for customers to pick out, and when you pick out the pecans, you get over 3 pounds of nutmeats.  We still have enough pecans for about 140 bags, and we'll have cracked pecans for sale until we sell out, probably till late June.