Pick Your Own Apples Now Until Nov. 2

   Our pick-your-own apple season, and main apple season, started today Sept. 12, and goes until early Nov.  'Enterprise' apples started ripening early this year, so our pick-your-own apple season is also starting early.  Pick-your-own means you harvest apples from the trees while you stand on the ground, and you buy everything you pick.  I show you which apple trees you may pick from, and how to pick the apples properly.

Pick-your-own apple customers started picking these 'Enterprise' apple trees this morning. We'll have pick-your-own apples for the next 7 weeks.

   Pick-your-own apple customers sort the apples as they harvest them, placing #1 apples with no damage into white plastic bags and #2 apples with small sunburned areas, cracks or other surface damage into yellow or tan plastic bags.  #1 'Enterprise' apples keep in top condition for fresh eating for 6 to 7 months in a fridge when stored in these plastic bags, and #2 'Enterprise' apples keep well for 2 to 3 months.

   We appreciate it if pick-your-own apple customers bring some clean, non-ripped, used plastic bags in different colors, but we have some bags for those who don't bring any.  Do NOT bring cloth tote bags, as I weigh the apples in the plastic bags, and the apples need to be stored in the plastic bags to keep well in the fridge.  We're reusing plastic bags that otherwise would be thrown out, and reusing is much better for the environment than recycling.

   Pick-your-own #1 apples sell for $1.23 per pound + $0.02 sales tax, and #2 apples sell for $0.99 per pound + $0.01 sales tax.  We take cash or checks for payment, but NO credit cards or debit cards, and no "apps", so please bring your checkbook or enough cash to cover the amount of fruit you want to buy. 

   Come during our Fall Open Hours, shown in the left sidebar, and allow enough time to finish picking and check out before we close at 12 noon or 5:30 p.m.  For the next week, afternoons will get very hot, so mornings are much better for picking apples.  Later in fall, afternoons are fine.

   I also harvest 'Enterprise' apples, and selections from my apple breeding program, for sale.  Seasons for all our crops are shown at left under Crop Sales Seasons.  That also tells which crops we sell harvested, and which crops we sell pick-your-own.

   Our 'Blake's Pride' European pear trees are heavily loaded this year, and we have many for sale now.  We've harvested over 1800 pounds of 'Blake's Pride' pears already, and will harvest another 1200 pounds or more over the next 2 weeks.  'Blake's Pride' pears have a very smooth, buttery texture and exceptional flavor, and are great for canning and cooking as well as fresh eating.

   Then we'll harvest two other European pear varieties, 'Harrow Sweet' and 'Shenandoah', during late Sept. and Oct.  We've just started harvesting some 'Shinko' Asian pears, and will have them for sale from mid-Sept. until early Nov. or so.

   Harvested pears and apples sell for $1.48 per pound + sales tax for #1 fruit with no damage.  We harvest directly into bags in boxes that I weigh to 20 pounds, so if you get a 20-pound box of #1 pears and/or apples you save $1.00.  We also pick some nice #2 fruit, with some surface scarring but no internal damage, that sells for just $1.18 per pound + sales tax, and often sells very quickly.

Hannah Helwig helps me harvest 'Blake's Pride' pears and other fruits.

   We do not allow customers to harvest pears, as they're tricky to pick at the right stage, and we harvest many pears from ladders, which we don't ever allow customers to use.  I also harvest all selections from my apple breeding program, and have small amounts of some of these apple varieties for sale now.  I give taste samples of all fruits and pecans available when customers come, for those interested in buying them.

   We still have many cracked pecans for sale now until late Sept., and many people have bought some lately.  Pecan harvest doesn't start until early Nov., and we start selling our new pecan crop in mid-Nov. Each year, many people come during our main apple season in Oct. and early Nov. and want pecans, but we don't have pecans for sale then.  If you'll want pecans before about Nov. 12, come get some in Sept.  Pecans keep in top condition in your freezer for at least 6 years.

    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.  

   If I'm not in the sales building when you arrive, ring the bell VERY loudly so I can hear it from the back of the orchards.  (If I am in the sales building, please do NOT ring the bell.  Thanks.)

   As always, we take cash or checks for payment, but NO credit cards or debit cards, and no phone "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.