Pre-picked D'Anjou pears available now.

D'Anjou Pears are pre-picked and waiting for you!

D' Anjou pears are a great all-purpose pear.  They are great for slicing into salads, baking into pies, pureeing for sauces and beverages, and of course eating fresh from hand.

They have a mild flavor and firm texture, but still sweet and tasty.

 

These pears are picked straight from the tree, because of that they need to be chilled at least 2 weeks in the fridge to ripen properly.  After they have been chilled, set them on your counter and let them ripen from there. Otherwise, like I did last year, you will wait and wait, and then they will go from crunchy to just rotting in the bucket.  When you buy these at grocery stores, they have already gone through the chilling process, so they ripen like you would expect a Bartlett pear too.  Just wanted to give you a heads up!

D'Anjou pears also do not turn yellow when they are ripe like a Bartlett pear.  So don't judge by the outside color if they are ready to eat.  "Apply the thumb to the pear flesh just below the point where the stem joins the fruit. When the flesh beneath your thumb yields evenly to gentle pressure, it is time to eat your pear. If you have to push more than slightly, it is not ready yet," explains the OSU extension service website.

Fun fact from Wikipedia: D'Anjou purée is used for Jelly Belly's Juicy Pear flavor of jelly bean.^[2]

^{Check back to the previous post for what apples are ready now.  There are many varieties available now!}

Ruby Jon, Liberty, Melrose and Jonagold all ripe now.

I can't keep up with all the apples coming ripe!  Apples definitely don't seem to be ripening as spread out as last year.  But I guess I shouldn't be as surprised because the same thing happened with all the other crops we grew this year.  Hopefully you guys don't miss out on any of your favorite apples because of it though!!!

More Apples that just came ripe:

Melrose:

Melrose are a great baking apple.  They keep their shape and flavor after baking .  It is a great apple for baking whole.  They are a nice eating apple too, especially if you let it sit for a bit after being picked.  Melrose are a cross between a Red Delicious and Jonathon apple.

We have a row of Melrose that is a few years old, and we have some scattered trees in the older portion of the orchard.  Ask about those if you'd like them.

Ruby Jon:

Very similiar looking to RubyMac.  Ruby Jon are part Jonathon variety which some people really love to cook with.  Ruby Jons make great applesauce and are used for general baking but are enjoyed as an eating apple too.

Liberty:

We have a small amount of these but they are quickly becoming a customer favorite.  They have a great crisp, sweet flavor to them.  Very crunchy.  I read they are one of the best for apple butter too.  Very yummy eating apple.

 

Jonagold:

Check the post from yesterday for more about Jonagold.  But they are a great overall apple that are great for eating, baking and applesauce.  Love them!

And of course still lots of Gala, Honeycrisp, Ruby Mac, and an Early Variety of Golden Delicious.

Jonagold Apples just came ripe!

Jonagold Apples are ripe now!  

I am bias but these are my favorite because they are such a good all around apple.  But of course everyone has their own opinion :)

Sweet apple with a nice crunch.  They are great for applesauce, pies, and of course, eating.

I can't wait to make a batch of applesauce with these!

Still have lots of Honeycrisp, Ruby Mac, Early Variety of Golden Delicious and Gala.

For a guess, the next apple to ripen will be the Melrose.  I will let you know when those come up!

It has been fun talking with you all out in the orchard!  One customer I was talking to was picking apples to make 125 mini pies for her son's wedding coming near the end of September.  They will give them out as favors for the guests, if I understood correctly.  WOW, I would love to see those!  What a great idea and what a fun project to take on. 

Other Farm Happenings:

Last week, we got a few new grass seed fields planted.  Then the next day was the big downpour/thunder/lightening so hopefully all our seed didn't wash away!  We will plant another field next week I think.

This week, we will probably start working on taking down the net over 7 acres of our blueberries.  We put it up most years to keep out all those pesky birds that feast on our blueberries.  We use a scissor lift to help the job along.  It takes about a week to roll it all up.  I think I have posted pictures of the process in the past but I can post more once they start taking down the net.

We also finally finished our last machine picking of blueberries!  This year was definitely one of our most stressful years of getting all the blueberries picked in a timely manner.  Thankfully we survived and like my Grandpa always says, "At least being a farmer, we always hope next year will be better!"  It definitely could have been worse too so we are thankful for what we were given!

On a side note, we are also waiting for another grandchild to be born!!  She is one day overdue today so it is exciting times.  Then we have another grandchild coming in about a month.  Also another girl! I think my parents think they are pretty lucky right now!

Well that is all for now!  See you out in the orchard this week!