Thursday, May 16, 2024

Still Asparagus & Pecans for Sale

   We still have asparagus for sale for the next 2 weeks or so, until early June.  Phone 620-597-2450 a day or two ahead to order it while we have it.  Asparagus is just $2.90 per pound + tax, harvested.  Every year, customers come in mid- to late June to pick thornless blackberries, and many say they wish they'd gotten some some asparagus, but we're sold out then.

   We also still have many harvested, cracked pecans for sale.  Pecans store well for several months in a fridge, and for over 6 years in a freezer.  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 $19.32 + sales tax.

We still have many cracked pecans in 4-pound bags, which are over 75% pecan kernels and under 25% shell fragments. They store over 6 years in a freezer, so come get them while we have them.
   We'll have pecans for sale until late June or July this year.  Each year, many customers want pecans in late Sept. to early Nov., and we're always sold out by then.  The new pecan crop starts in mid-Nov.

   We'll have NO sweet cherry crop this year, so I took that crop off the sidebar at left under Crop Sales Seasons.  Just 1 week ago we still had a reduced sweet cherry crop due to the 25 F frost of March 27, but then the birds started pecking the cherries despite the 2 bird repellent sprays we'd applied.  Then we got another inch of rain, and all the cherries with tiny bird pecks just rotted.

   Excess spring rains often make sweet cherries very difficult to grow in this area, so I'll leave sweet cherries off the Crop Sales Seasons list until we have a good crop some year, which may never happen again.  Frequent rainy springs are also one reason that we retired from growing strawberries for sale in 2016.  The record-breaking 2022-2023 drought was the reason that we retired from growing raspberries for sale in 2022.

   Our main crops are now pecans, apples, pears, Asian pears, peaches and thornless blackberries.  Almost all these crops grow in orchards, hence our new name: Reid Orchards.  We now have a new website, Reid Orchards at https://reidorchards.blogspot.com/

Thornless blackberries are still blooming, and many young fruit have set and are growing. We'll have pick-your-own thornless blackberries from mid-June to late July. 
   Revised projected sales dates for all our crops are shown in the updated sidebar at left under Crop Sales Seasons.  That also tells which crops we sell harvested, and which crops we sell pick-your-own.  Note that we'll have NO peach crop in 2024.

    From Dec. 16 to June 14, we're open by appointment.  During these dates, phone 620-597-2450 a day ahead and leave a message on our answering machine saying the day and about what time you'll come, and what you want to buy.  We're working all over the farm, so often don't see vehicles drive in if you don't call a day ahead so we can look for you.

Young 'Shenandoah' pears have already grown well, and should be huge at harvest in late Sept. I took this photo while high on a ladder, pruning the trees.
   You can make an appointment to arrive here between 10 a.m. and noon or between 1:30 and 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays, or between 2 and 5 p.m. on Sundays, but please state a specific approximate time in your message. Then I'll be out in the sale building to meet you when you come.

   If you want a return call, you must state your phone number in your message, or we won't know it.  Our phone is a landline that rings in our house, so you may get our answering machine if you call during the day, and we return calls after dark.  We answer the phone if you call while it's dark or raining, so please don't call after 10 p.m. or before 7 a.m.  Thanks.

   As always, we take cash or checks for payment, but NO credit cards or debit cards, and no "apps".  We don't use a smart phone, and have no phone line to the sales building.  So please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount of fruit you want to buy.  Thanks.