All Apples Harvested, Pecan Harvest Delayed

   This past weekend, our workers, my husband Bill and I harvested all remaining apples from the trees, ahead of this current cold snap.  So the pick-your-own season for apples has now ended.  Our crew harvested into large bins that we store in our larger cooler in our pecan building.  We now have about 9000 pounds of harvested apples, safely stored in our two coolers.
   I'll sort apples from those bins all winter, into trays of #1 apples and #2 apples.  We'll have harvested 'Enterprise' apples for sale until we sell out, probably in Feb. or March 2020, and harvested 'GoldRush' apples until we sell out around late June 2020.

We have harvested 'Enterprise' apples (left tray) for sale now until Feb. or March 2020, and harvested 'GoldRush' apples (right tray) for sale now until late June 2020.

   We also have harvested 'Sundance', 'Prairie Rose' (Co-op 27), and selections from my apple breeding program.  All our apple varieties are immune to apple scab disease, so we don't have to spray for that disease, so we can put on 1/3 fewer fungicide sprays during the growing season than if we grew scab-susceptible apple varieties such as 'Jonathan' or 'Golden Delicious'.
   I give taste samples of the apple varieties available at the time, all of which are much better than any grocery store apples.  We also do not add wax or post-harvest fungicides to our apples, which grocery store apples have.

We still have some huge 'Sun Giant' apples (left tray), a selection from my apple breeding program with a taste similar to 'Honeycrisp', for sale. We also still have about 300 pounds of 'Shinko' Asian pears (right tray) for sale.

   We still have about 300 pounds of 'Shinko' Asian pears for sale until we sell out.  These will keep well in our cooler or your fridge for another 2 to 3 months from now.  The last 'Harrowsweet' pears sold last Sat.
   Small amounts of harvested apples and Asian pears cost $1.30 per pound + tax.  We pick or pack 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 apples and/or Asian pears for $25.00 + tax.  We harvest apples and Asian pears into 2 bags per box, so you can get a 10-lb. bag each of 2 different apple varieties, or a 10-lb. bag of Asian pears and a 10-lb. bag of apples, and still get the 20-lb. discount.
   Our harvested 2nds apples, with rain cracks, limb rubs or other surface damage, sell for $0.93 per pound + tax.  We now have a good supply of harvested 2nds apples, for those wanting to make apple pie filling, apple butter or other apple products.   
   Excess rain has repeatedly delayed the start of pecan harvest this year, and we've had to push back the start date for selling pecans even farther, until Nov. 26 or later.  The extreme cold slows soil drying, and we can not harvest in waterlogged soil, as the rubber fingers of the pecan harvesting machine would just pick up mud balls.  Once harvested, the pecans have to be cleaned, dried, cracked and bagged for sale.
   The price for pecans will be the same as last year: $16.67 + tax for a 4-pound bag of cracked pecans which are over 75% nutmeats.  We should have pecans for sale from late Nov. until early Jan. 2020, as shown in the sidebar at left under Crop Sales Seasons.
   We're still open our fall open hours (shown in the sidebar at left) until Nov. 30: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mon. to Sat., and 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Sundays.