Reid Orchards: 'Contender' Peaches Ripe Now

Thornless blackberries are still ripening, now until about Aug. 1, but many customers came to pick them Sun. evening July 5, Mon. morning and Mon. evening July 6, so it will be a few days before more berries are ripe for picking. Thankfully, no customers came to pick thornless blackberries this morning, so I got to head out to our peach orchard and harvest 'Contender' peaches for 2 1/2 hours this morning, before it got too hot.

I just started picking 'Contender' peaches today, and will harvest more over the next 10 or 12 days. 'Contender' is a customer favorite peach variety that's good for fresh eating, canning, freezing and baking pies or cobblers. I harvested 6 boxes of #1 'Contender' peaches and 2 boxes of #2 'Contender' peaches this morning, Tues. July 7, weighing about 12 pounds per box. If you want to get some peaches this evening, phone 620-597-2450 this afternoon, while I'm in the house writing this blog and freezing peaches.

I harvested 2 boxes of #2 'Contender' peaches (left box) and 6 boxes of #1 'Contender' peaches (right box) this morning.

If you call during our open hours (see left sidebar), you'll get our answering machine, so leave a message with your name, day and time you'll come, and what you want to buy. You must state your phone number with area code clearly, so I can call you back.

We're storing harvested peaches in our sales building refrigerator this summer, as our cooler still holds many apples and is set at 34 F. That's ideal for storing apples, but too cold for peaches. We sell peaches the evening or the next morning after they're picked. Amounts are very limited, so I'm only posting this here. Please do NOT post about this on social media.

Two more peach varieties will ripen after 'Contender', until about Aug. 10. Each variety ripens over a 10 to 14 day period, so we have a succession of peach varieties ripening. #1 peaches with no damage sell for $1.58 per pound + sales tax, and #2 peaches sell for $1.28 per pound + sales tax.

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.

If I'm not in the sales building when you arrive, ring the bell VERY loudly so I can hear it 1/4 mile away in the peach orchard. (If I am in the sales building, please do NOT ring the bell. Thanks.)

We still have many harvested #1 and #2 'Gold Rush' apples for sale, and many #2 'Enterprise' apples. We'll have harvested apples for sale until late July or so.

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. My husband Bill cracked and bagged all remaining pecans a month ago, and we now have 59 bags left to sell, stored in refrigerators. 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 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.

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.