Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Many 'Natchez' Thornless Blackberries Ripe Now

    Many 'Natchez' thornless blackberries are ripe now and for the next 3 weeks.  We have a bumper crop of 'Natchez' thornless blackberries this year, so there are many berries for customers to pick.  We have 7 rows of 'Natchez' thornless blackberries, and we have 2 other varieties of thornless blackberries that start ripening later, so we'll still have many thornless blackberries to pick until about July 31, and some to pick until Aug. 2 or 3 or so.

Many 'Natchez' thornless blackberries are ripe for picking now, and more will ripen for the next 3 weeks.
   Thornless blackberries are sold pick-your-own only.  There are NO chiggers or thorns, and you can pick a quart in 5 minutes.

'Natchez' thornless blackberries are huge, and you can pick a quart in 5 minutes.
   We do not take appointments in summer; just come during our Summer Open Hours.  Please do not arrive before our opening time, and allow enough time to finish picking and check out by our closing time.  Thanks.

   We provide plastic quarts for you to pick berries into, and have you fill them level-full.  We have waxed picking flats to place quarts on while picking, and appreciate it when customers bring cardboard, plastic or metal trays to place their blackberry quarts on to bring them home.

    Do NOT bring bowls or bags to dump the berries into, as that damages them, and we want the berries to stay in the quarts or pints you picked them into until you get them home.  Our plastic quarts are the best way to store blackberries in the fridge for 8 to 10 days.  Just put plastic wrap over the tops of the pints or quarts, to prevent frost-free fridges from drying the berries out.

  We also still have some harvested, cracked pecans for sale, now until mid- to late July.  We had a very good pecan crop this past fall, so we probably will not sell out of pecans before mid- to late July.

   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.

   We should have a fairly good peach crop this year, but we now have just 82 bearing peach trees, only 40% the amount of peach trees we had from 2012 to 2019.  Most of these trees are just 4 or 5 years old, so haven't reached full bearing capacity yet, and our peach crop will be about 25% of what it was in 2017 or 2019 (our last good peach years).

   We'll take orders for peaches in July and August, a few days ahead, but not before then.  We'll only take orders for peaches to be picked up during our open hours from Mon. mornings to Thurs. mornings, not on Thurs. evenings to Sun. evenings, since so many customers come then.

   Sales dates for all our crops are listed in the sidebar at left under Crop Sales Seasons. That also tells which crops are sold pick-your-own and which crops are sold harvested.  I adjust the dates as crop conditions change.

   From June 1 to Aug. 31, as shown in the sidebar at left under Open Hours, we're open Mon. to Sat. 7:30 a.m.to 12 noon and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. only.  We're closed Sun. mornings for church services (as we are year-round), and closed from 12 noon to 7 p.m. each day in summer.  If you tell others about us, please let them know the open hours.  Thanks. 

   Our parking areas can fit 3 vehicles between each pair of oak trees (which provide nice shade for your vehicle).  So please pull in straight, fairly close to a tree, or into the middle spot if 2 other vehicles are already parked next to the 2 trees.  That way we'll have enough parking spots for everyone who's coming to get fruit.  Thanks.

   We do not allow vehicles to idle in our parking areas.  Turn off the vehicle when you arrive, and do not turn it on again until you've checked out and loaded up and are ready to go.

   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.