Pick-Your-Own Apples Now, Many Harvested Pears & Asian Pears

   Our pick-your-own apple season has just started.  Check the weather forecast for 5 miles east of Chetopa, KS before coming to pick your own 'Enterprise' apples, as we do not allow customers to pick in the rain.

   Praise God, it's raining here now, and rain should continue until early tomorrow morning, Wed. Sept. 20.  When it's raining, I'll be sorting and packing apples in the sales building, and you can buy harvested pears and apples while it's raining.

'Enterprise' apples have just started ripening, so our pick-your-own apple season will go for the next 3.5 weeks or so.

   PYO means you harvest your own apples from the trees while you stand on the ground, and you buy everything you pick.  Since our apple crop is very limited this fall, we can't accommodate school groups or other large groups wanting PYO apples this fall.

   I'm now harvesting many 'Harrowsweet' pears and 'Shinko' Asian pears.  All pears and Asian pears are sold harvested only.  We do not allow customers to pick pears or Asian pears because they're tricky to harvest at the right stage, and fruit will drop if not harvested promptly when ready.  Also, I pick most pears and Asian pears from a ladder, and we do not ever let customers use ladders.

I just started harvesting these 'Harrow Sweet' pears today, and already have over 4 20-pound boxes of them ready to sell.

    If you want to pick your own apples or buy harvested fruit on a weekday, Mon. to Fri., please call 620-597-2450 a day or two ahead and leave a message on our answering machine saying the day and about what time you plan to come.  I'm very busy harvesting pears or my breeding apples in the mornings, so I may not hear or see a vehicle come in if I'm not expecting you.  Many people come on Sat. and on Sun. afternoon, so those days I'm picking apples in our main apple orchard, where I can see the driveway.

   We prefer that people come to get fruit and/or pick apples in late mornings, arriving here between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., or afternoons, arriving here between 1:30 and 5:00 p.m.  If you drop by, without calling a day ahead, during our Fall Open Hours (shown in the left sidebar), ring the bell on the sales building porch very loudly.

   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.