'Enterprise' Apples Survived Hard Freeze

   Our 'Enterprise' apple crop survived the 19 F hard freeze we had on Wed. morning Oct. 19.  We still have pick-your-own 'Enterprise' apples, and those who want to pick them should come in the next week or so, as we'll finish 'Enterprise' apple harvest by then.

   My husband Bill has already picked over 4000 pounds of 'Enterprise' apples into large bins that we store in our larger cooler.  I'll sort apples from those bins into trays of #1 apples and #2 apples all winter and spring, and we'll have them for sale until about May 2023.  'Enterprise' apples keep well in our cooler or your fridge for 6 to 8 months.  'Enterprise' apples survived the extreme summer and fall drought very well, and have excellent quality this year.

   The hard freeze did end pear harvest, but we still have over 1000 pounds of harvested 'Harrow Sweet' pears in our cooler, ready to sell.  'Shinko' Asian pears have now sold out for the year.

   We also now have a good amount of harvested 'Enterprise' apples in our cooler, ready to sell, plus smaller amounts of a few other harvested apple varieties.  For the past 2 days, since the freeze ended pear harvest, our worker Dusti Scales and I have been harvesting apples.

Dusti Scales picked, sorted, cleaned and packed 'Enterprise' (red) apples this afternoon, while I picked and packed the light yellow 'Sundance' apples at right.

   We do not know yet if we'll be able to harvest our 'Gold Rush' apples this year.  We normally start harvesting 'Gold Rush' apples about Oct. 24, and harvest most of the crop in early Nov.  'Gold Rush' apples suffered greatly from the most extreme summer drought on record in southeast Kansas, and the fruit were not physiologically mature enough to pick before the hard freeze; they would never have ripened in cold storage.

   Many 'Gold Rush' apples are badly sunburned from the prolonged summer temperatures over 100 F, and many have dropped early from the trees.  If we finally get rain on Mon. Oct. 24 as predicted, many 'Gold Rush' apples will split open due to sudden water uptake after 5 months of extreme drought.  I'll post in a couple weeks if we'll have any 'Gold Rush' apples for sale this year.

   Pick-your-own apple prices are $1.16 per pound + sales tax for #1 apples, and $0.88 per pound + sales tax for #2 apples (2nds).  "Pick-your-own" means you pick the apples from the trees while you stand on the ground, and you buy everything you pick.

  We sell #1 harvested pears and apples for $1.39 per pound + sales tax.  We sell #2 (2nds) pears and apples, with cracks or bird pecks, for $1.06 per pound + sales tax.

   We pick the #1 fruit directly into 2 bags in each box, which I weigh to 20.0 pounds.  If you get a 20-pound box of pears and/or apples, the price goes down to $1.34 per pound + sales tax.  So a 20-pound box of pears and/or apples costs $26.85 + sales tax, and you save $1.00.

   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.

   While I'm harvesting apples, I put up a sign by the bell on our sales building porch, saying to ring the bell.  Ring it loudly, and I'll come to the sales building.

   We hope to have harvested, cracked pecans for sale starting in mid-Nov.  Our pecan crop will be greatly reduced this year due to 5 months of extreme drought and the early hard freeze.