Thornless Blackberries Ripe for Picking

   'Natchez' thornless blackberries are ripening now, and customers began picking them on June 11.  These are nice large berries, and you can pick a quart in 5 minutes.  There are NO thorns or chiggers.

Some 'Natchez' thornless blackberries are ripe for picking now, while some branches are still blooming & the berries will ripen in 6 weeks.

  We also grow 'Apache', another variety of thornless blackberries that starts ripening later.  The most thornless blackberries will ripen from about June 20 to July 16, and they'll still be some to pick until about July 26.

   Thornless blackberries are sold pick-your-own only, for $4.93 per quart + sales tax.  We provide quart containers, and have customers fill them level-full.  You'll bring the berries home in the quarts, set on cardboard trays, and we appreciate it if you bring us back the empty quarts and cardboard trays on your next visit to Reid Orchards.

   Some customers bring plastic or cardboard trays, or metal cookie sheets with sides, to set their quarts on, which we also appreciate.  Do NOT bring bowls to dump the berries into, as that could bruise them, and we want the berries to stay in the quarts they're picked into until you get them home and use them.

  Our Summer Open Hours start today, June 15, and run until Aug. 31, as shown in the sidebar at left.  In summer, we're open Mon. to Sat. 7:30 a.m.to 12 noon and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. only.  We're closed Sun. mornings for church services (as we are year-round), and closed from 12 noon to 7 p.m. each day in summer.  The heat index will go above 90 F by noon each day this week, and won't go below 90 until about 7 p.m.

We've had these same summer open hours for 25 years now.

   We do not take appointments in summer; just come during our open hours.  If you tell others about us, please let them know the summer open hours.  Thanks.

   We still have some sweet cherries for sale for the next week or so.  We sell sweet cherries harvested, for $4.93 per pint + sales tax.  Sweet cherries are very sweet and crisp and are for fresh eating, not pie-making.  'Bing', a famous sweet cherry variety grown on the West Coast of North America, is very prone to fruit cracking during rains, so doesn't produce well here.  We grow 5 other sweet cherry varieties with better resistance to fruit cracking and diseases.

These 'Benton' sweet cherries have a wonderful flavor & very crisp, juicy texture.

   We also still have many cracked pecans and some 'Gold Rush' apples for sale now.  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 kernels, you get 3 pounds or more of nutmeats.  Each bag costs $19.70 + sales tax.

   'Gold Rush' apples keep in top condition for fresh eating for 10 to 11 months in a fridge when stored in the plastic bags I packed them in.  This apple variety has gotten sweeter after 7 months of cold storage, as starches converted into sugars.

   Harvested apples sell for $1.48 per pound + sales tax for #1 fruit with no damage.  We have some very nice #2 fruit that sell for $1.18 per pound + sales tax.   #2 'Gold Rush' apples, with small cracks or other surface damage, are great for cutting into slices for fresh eating, baking and making apple butter.

   Projected sales dates for all our crops are shown in the sidebar at left under Crop Sales Seasons.  That also tells which crops we sell harvested, and which crops we sell pick-your-own.

   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 produce you want to buy.  Thanks.