Peach Trees Blooming, Need Summer Workers

    Some of our peach trees are now in the early bloom stage, while the latest-blooming peach varieties are still mostly in the pink bud stage.  We hope to have a good peach crop this year, but we now have just 82 bearing peach trees, only 40% the amount we had from 2012 to 2019.

'Souvenirs' peach trees, our earliest-blooming and earliest-ripening variety, are in the early bloom stage now.

   The average lifespan of a peach tree is 15 years, so all but 6 trees of the original 100-tree peach orchard that I planted in 2001 have now died and been cut down.  The second peach orchard that I planted in 2009-2010 still has 18 trees, and the third and final peach orchard that I planted in 2017-2020 has 76 young trees, of which 58 will bear this year.  These young peach trees will not produce as much as older trees, but if we have a good peach crop this year, we'll need more workers to help thin the excess young peaches in May, and harvest the crop in July and Aug.

   So we are now looking for 2 more college student summer workers, to start in early May as soon as college lets out for the summer.  We hire college students who can work Mon. to Sat. mornings, 6:30 or 7 a.m. to 12 noon, all during the summer.  Some of our workers also work every Saturday and class holidays during the college year, whenever the weather is conducive.

  Workers must be 18 or older and live within 20 miles of Brenda's Berries & Orchards.  They must have their own transportation here or be able to carpool with other workers, and come to work every day unless sick or they notify us in advance.  Workers must be dependable, prompt, honest, and have a good work ethic.  They must not have attention deficit disorder or other disabilities that would interfere with their orchard work.

   Workers must enjoy working outside, sometimes during hot, cold or very windy weather.  They must follow instructions well and work quickly and efficiently.  Official pay (including workers' half of their Social Security & Medicare taxes which we must pay each month) is $8.60 per hour, with take-home pay of $8.00 per hour.  Interested potential workers should call 620-597-2450 and leave a message with your name and phone number on the answering machine.  Have names and phone numbers of references available when I call you back.

   We still have many harvested, cracked pecans for sale, now until about June.  We had a very good pecan crop this past fall, and fewer people come to buy them from mid-Jan. to late May, so we probably will not sell out of pecans before late June or early July. 

   We grow and sell only pecan varieties that my husband Bill has named, and selections from his pecan breeding program.  All pecans that we sell have large nuts with thin shells and flavorful kernels.

The cracked pecans in our 4-pound bags look like this, as they're over 75% pecan kernels and under 25% shell fragments.  We'll have pecans for sale until late June.

   We sell cracked pecans in 4-pound bags, which are over 75% pecan kernels and under 25% shell fragments.  Each bag has the equivalent of 6 pounds of in-shell pecans, and when you pick out the pecan kernels, you get 3 pounds or more of nutmeats.  Each bag costs $18.52 + sales tax.

   We sold out of all apples for the season in late Jan, as our apple crop was greatly reduced last fall.  Asparagus season will start about April 12, as shown in the sidebar at left under Crop Sales Seasons.

   From Dec. 1 to May 31, we’re open by appointment.  That means to phone 620-597-2450 a day ahead and leave a message on our answering machine with your name, day and approximate time you’ll come, and what you want to buy.

   Our phone rings in our house, so I'll answer it if you call while it's cold out, and I'm working on the computer as I am now.  If you call while the weather's warm, we're working in the orchards, so leave a message on our answering machine.  We have no phone in our sales building or pecan building and we don't carry cell phones with us.  So we'll get your message when we come in from working in the orchard, sales building or pecan cracking room.  That's why you need to call a day ahead.

   For payment, we accept cash and checks (from any state), but NO credit cards or debit cards.  We have no phone line to the sales building, and no card reader.  Please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount you want to buy.  Thanks.