We're Going For It!!

We will start picking at daylight tomorrow. Here are some shots of the trees before we start..A few days ago we had a terrible wind storm and the fruit and trees are covered with dirt! I've tried to wash it off with irrigation and it helped but there is still a ton of dirt on the apples...Crazy!

2009 Crop Update! Gettin' Close!

Well we are getting very close to picking the 2009 crop. We've had lots of emails and phone calls asking when the apples will be ready. We are hoping to start picking in the next 7-10 days. Remember, I refuse to pick until I'm convinced the fruit is at peak maturity, and I'm ready to eat it.

Please be patient as we impatiently await the right time.

I'll post some pictures here in the next couple of days!!

--tom

Puttin' 'Em in the Box!

Well...we packed some of the fruit on Thursday. Here the ladies on the packing line are looking for low grade and damaged fruit and are pulling it off the line.








These gals' hands move so fast you can barely see them. They take the fruit that has been sized and graded and put them into the boxes. Each piece of fruit is handled and placed in the box.




This guy is the quality control guy. He periodically pulls a box off the line and looks at every apple to make sure it makes grade. If a boxer puts below grade fruit in the boxes he is the guy that brings the hammer down on them and corrects them.




This is what we want to end up with. Beautiful aren't they?







Now they are in the box, on the pallet, in the cooler and waiting to be sent on to you! The store is up and running and ready to accept orders. We will continue to tweek the cosmetics of the site, but it's functional and ready to roll. Send your orders in and we'll get them shipped out as soon as we can.

YAHOOOOO!!

This guy is my newest best friend today. Why?? He's the guy who is taking the LAST load of apples to the Packing Shed/Storage Facility! Yup! We're done picking!








Is this a beautiful site or what? It is always a great relief to see the fruit on the way to the shed. The longer it is out in the orchard the more chance something bad could happen. The fruit should be in the cooler in about 1 hour from now...Wooohooo!

The other good news. I got word today that the packers will be packing some of our fruit on Thursday! We should have fruit ready to ship by next week...I'll keep you posted, and I'll have some pictures of the packing process. (As long as I don't forget my camera!)

Movin' 'Em Out

The first load is on the way to the cold storage! This is the manager of the shipping department, my wife Becki. Well...she is the shipping department. She is a jack of all trades and does like we all do in small business, whatever needs to be done.



The quality of the fruit is excellent! You are going to love it..it's some of the best we've ever grown, and the weather is perfect for picking.



Hang in there with us. We'll get some ready for shipment as soon as we can. But we need to finish the picking first.

We've Started Harvest!

We started at 7am this morning and will be going until we get done. It looks like it will take us about 10 days as long as the crew stays intact. That never happens, but a guy can dream a bit.







For those of you who have never taken part in an apple harvest here are a few pictures of our day.

Gettin' Closer

Well, it looks like we may start picking next week. The fruit is maturing nicely and as long as we can get the pickers we need, we'll start on Monday. Keep your fingers crossed and order some good weather for us. If all goes well we should be done picking about 10 days after we start and shortly after that we'll have fruit to ship.

Our new website is coming along and soon we will have our shopping cart up and running. PLEASE DON'T ORDER JUST YET. We are still testing.

Thanks!

Tom