“Dog” days of summer are upon us as we approach the beginning of another harvest season.  Heat advisories were issued for the area as the past few days the temperatures have been in the upper 90’s and heat indexes have approached over 105 degrees.  Recent rain has caused the humidity levels to soar.

The apples have passed their cell divisions and are starting to put on their growth.  So far, so good with the development of the apples.  Peaches, however, are not much.  At this point we are trying to beat the wildlife to them as the squirrels and raccoons have enjoyed the few peaches that have ripened so far.  On the lighter side, it is amusing to see the squirrels manage to get a peach from the top of the tree and scurry away with it.  They are “stealing” it for the seed in the stone.  Guess they know something good when they see it and don’t think twice about helping themselves.

Still using weed eaters in the orchard and pulling weeds from around the young trees.  Trying to keep things under control before we spend most of our days picking fruit.  Weed control can be discouraging, especially this year.   We are also fine tuning the equipment as we get ready for harvest.

The first apples we harvested were Lodi and Early Harvest or Transparent.  Both of these varieties are exceptional for sauce.  We have only a few trees so supply is limited and usually go to the same customers every year.  We will be harvesting Gingergold apples in about three weeks and this variety will be the first that we can offer to our customers.  After the Gingergold we will be picking Sansa, Zestar and the ever popular Gala.  By the third week of August we will have a nice selection of apples to offer our customers at our markets.  Check out our updated chart with apple varieties and their uses as well as the descriptions of each of the varieties that are grown in our orchard.

Again, we strongly encourage shopping for your produce at your local Farmers’ Markets.  These markets offer fresh produce, most of it directly from the farmer to you.  Meet and chat with the vendors, ask questions.  A visit to the market may be an extra trip in your busy schedules but there is no better way “eat fresh” and support the local grower.