Praise God for Rain; Too Late for Blackberries

    We praise God that our farm got 1.88 inches of rain before sunrise this morning.  That will greatly help our August-ripening peaches and our Sept.-ripening pears.

   But the rain came too late for the thornless blackberries; harvest has now ended. The crop was decimated this year by 13 months of drought, and very hot summers both last year and this year.  Very few berries set this spring, and many berries that did set shriveled on the plants instead of ripening over the past 3 weeks.  We had a 99% crop loss on thornless blackberries this year.

   We'll have a reduced peach crop from about July 20 to Aug. 30 this year, but the late July peaches will all be 2nds with splits from the long drought.  Just like last year, our #1 peaches won't ripen until Aug.  Most will come from our 12 remaining older peach trees of 'Glowing Star' and 'Carolina Gold' varieties.  Trees in our newest and final peach orchard are just 5 to 6 years old and don't have as deep roots, so got hurt much more by the long drought.

These 'Carolina Gold' peaches are our latest-ripening variety.  We'll have some harvested 'Carolina Gold' peaches for sale in mid- to late Aug.

   So I've changed the peach sale dates in the left sidebar under Crop Sales Seasons to show the dates for #1 peaches.  Sales dates for all our crops have been updated in the sidebar at left to reflect current and expected conditions.  This also shows which crops we sell harvested, and which crops we sell pick-your-own.

   Once peaches start ripening, we'll sell harvested #1 peaches for $1.52 per pound + sales tax, and harvested #2 (2nds) peaches for $1.09 per pound + sales tax.  We'll have 2nds peaches July 20-31, then very limited amounts of #1 and #2 peaches Aug. 1-10, then the most peaches from Aug. 10-30.  During those dates, phone 620-597-2450 1 or 2 days before you want to come, to check on availability and possibly order some peaches.  I will not take orders for peaches more than 2 days ahead.

   We still have many long-keeping 'Enterprise' and 'Gold Rush' harvested apples for sale for the next couple months.  See the June 4, 2023 blog post for prices on apples.  This coming Sept. and Oct., the apple crop will be very sparse, but we have many great-quality apples now, so buy them while we have them.  I give taste samples, and almost everyone who tries these apples loves them and buys some.

We still have many 'Gold Rush' (left box) & 'Enterprise' (right box) apples for sale, but call a few days ahead if you want large amounts.

   Those visiting us from Joplin, MO should take 7th St. to Galena, KS then Hwy. 66 to Riverton and Baxter Springs, KS, then Hwy. 166 for 15.0 miles west to Brenda's Berries & Orchards as usual.  Hwy. 166 is closed from Baxter Springs to 4.0 miles east of Baxter Springs for road work this summer.

   As always, we take cash or checks for payment, but NO credit cards or debit cards.  So please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount of fruit you want to buy.  Thanks.