Many Thornless Blackberries Ripe Now to July 25

   Many thornless blackberries are ripening now, and more blackberries will continue ripening until about Aug. 1.  The most berries will be ripe from now to July 25.  These are large berries, on plants with NO thorns or chiggers, and very easy and fast to pick.  This summer will be our 26th and final year of offering pick-your-own thornless blackberries for sale, so if you want to pick them here, come this year.

Many 'Natchez' thornless blackberries are ripe now, and many more are growing on both 'Natchez' and 'Apache' plants. The most berries will ripen from now to July 25. 

   Our farm got 10.9 inches of rain in the last 3 weeks, so wear boots.  Our blackberry planting has grass aisles, so it's not muddy, but there's a heavy dew each morning until about 10 a.m. 

   Our Summer Open Hours started June 15 and run until Aug. 4 this year, 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 for blackberry picking from 12 noon to 7 p.m. each day in summer due to high heat.  You don't need an appointment to pick blackberries, but if you're driving a distance you might want to call a day or two ahead to ask how many berries are ripe.

   We'll be open our usual morning hours on Sat. July 4th, but closed that evening for the holiday. 

   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 their own trays (metal, cardboard or plastic) to set the berry quarts on, and we appreciate that very much!  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. 

   We still have many harvested #1 and #2 'Gold Rush' apples for sale, and many #2 'Enterprise' apples.  Some afternoons when it's too hot to work outside, I sort and clean apples out of the bins we picked them in last fall, and pack them into 20-pound trays.  We'll have harvested apples for sale until about late July 2026.

 'Gold Rush' apples are very crisp & very sweet, and keep 10 months in the fridge. I eat one every day with my lunch. 

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

   Until about July 25, we still have some harvested, cracked pecans for sale.  Once we sell out, we won't have more pecans until the new crop starts in mid-Nov., so get some soon if you'll want them before Nov. 15.  These pecan selections, from my husband Bill's pecan breeding program, have large nuts, thin shells and great taste, and I give taste samples.

   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 you just want to buy apples and/or pecans, and not pick blackberries, you may come in afternoons when I'm in our sales building sorting apples.  Just please phone 620-597-2450 a day or two ahead, and leave a message on our answering machine with your name, day and time you'll come, and what you want to buy.  You may arrive here between 10 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., or between 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday.

   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 fruit and/or pecans you want to buy.  Thanks.