It’s been a blur these past four months. Here it is the middle of November and finally getting back to adding updates. We’ve had a whirlwind of a fruit season, picking fruit every day from the 4th of July until the 26th of October, first, peaches and then following up with apples. It’s definitely been a great harvest season with ample rains and favorable weather conditions for picking and marketing.
There’s now a little “down time” before we begin our annual pruning. During this period, our off season, we repair and store crates, inventory our supplies, maintenance pruning equipment and perform the myriad of other chores that were put on our “back burner” while harvest was underway.
We are also involved in planning next Spring’s planting. All trees have a natural life span and we’re removing some trees that have reached “old age.” We will be planting newer varieties that are in more demand by our customers but we’ll still keep and nurture our heirlooms. Planting trees is the best way to touch the future and keep our business “growing.”
Every harvest season, there are apple varieties that really “strut their stuff.” This was the case this year for our Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, Crimson Crisp and Fuji apples. Customers’ comments were very favorable. Guessing that our weather conditions were just what those particular varieties needed as Mother Nature gives the flavor, we just are caretakers. Of the peach varieties, the Canadian Harmony peach was the ribbon winner for flavor.
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, we want to thank all our customers, both old and new, that have shown such support to our local business. As we always say, we don’t profess to be perfect and do everything right, BUT there’s not one day we don’t go out and try our best.
Happy Thanksgiving, keep eating those apples!