Still going strong with the raspberries!

We are having a great season for raspberries. As you can see in the picture, they are still going strong as we move into September, and we expect them to be around for a while yet! Don't forget to come get yours!

New Equipment is HERE!

Well, after much waiting we finally received our new to us equipment. We now have a CaseIH 685 Orchard Special tractor, a Tiger 90" heavy duty flail mower, and a Gehl 4500 skid loader. This should make a huge difference in our operation. The skid loader and orchard tractor are the combination we need for making sure that the fruit orchards get the compost applications that they need, and the flail mower will cut and shred any cover crop we might want to plant. This will help our vegetable fields a lot!

ICE CREAM IS COMING!

We are having Peach Ice Cream made right now! Get ready, it should be here in a few days.

Peaches are still going strong, and the Apple harvest is in full swing.

The Apple Harvest

Well, it's been a few days since we picked these, but I finally got the pictures into the computer. The first picture is of Emily loading the bushel boxes full of Tydaman's Red into the truck. The second is of Emily and I putting them into our big cooler. The box she is holding is a bushel apple crate; the smaller boxes off to the left side of the cooler are 1/2 bushel peach crates. Apples are tougher than peaches, so we can put many more in a box!

So far we have picked Lodi and Tydaman's Red apples. Soon we will be picking the Rambo's and then on to McIntosh. It's going to be a busy season picking all this fruit!

For those who are wondering, yes you will see lots of apples in your CSA shares. Before we can distribute the apples, we must wash and sort them on our large apple sorting line. Thanks to this unusual season, we are picking apples much earlier than usual, and we aren't prepared to sort and wash yet. However, I expect that Karen and I will be running apples this weekend, and once we get into the Rambo's you will start seeing both apples and peaches in your weekly share.

It's also important to note that we don't always have all varieties that are for sale in the shares. This is simply to be fair; we have on 1 Lodi tree and 5 Tydaman's Red, so we don't have enough apples to give some to everyone. Instead, we make them available through our Special Order Program, on a first come first served basis. This is the best we can do for now, but we are in the process of planning a new orchard.

As always, if you have any questions, just leave them in the comments and I'll answer ASAP.
Thank you everyone for your support!
Jeff

Tractor Stories.....

At Vollmecke Orchards we have 5 tractors. While that might seem like a lot, each machine has a specific purpose for us. Our newest machine is an Antonio Carraro TTR-9400, which we were able to purchase with a grant from the PA Department of Enviromental Protection. This machine's primary use is pulling our compost turner, and operating our Imants spading machine, which is our primary tillage machine. (Tractor and turner pictured to the right) It's an 87hp 4wd tractor with cab and air conditioning- by far the most comfortable of our tractors. Though new by our standards, it's still a used machine, and can be temperamental. The oldest tractor is a 1946 Farmall A- no fancy stuff on this one, but it's a very reliable old machine, and it is the one that usually pulls the harvest wagons in. It's also great for pulling a flatbed wagon that we use for removing prunings and debris from the orchard, as it is small and maneuverable. In the middle we have a 1969 David Brown 990, used for spraying the orchards and operating our plastic mulch layer, moldboard plow, and weed badger. We also have a wonderful 1982 Kubota L245H high clearance cultivating tractor. This is probably the most used tractor on the farm, as it runs our rototiller, cultivates strawberries and vegetables, runs the flail mower, and is the only tractor that can handle the boom sprayer used for spraying under the fruit trees. Last, but not least is our 1987 John Deere 2355 loader tractor. This is the only tractor we have that is equipped with a front end loader, and that in itself is invaluable. This tractor is also a great general purpose machine that can, in a pinch, stand in for many of the other tractors.
Tomorrow I'll try to get into some harvest notes and pictures...
Jeff

Peaches, Apples, Nectarines, and tractor problems

Wow, what a week! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated, but this week has been insanely busy.
We have now picked several varieties of peaches, a number of nectarines, and two varietis of apples. We have both white and yellow peaches, Lodi apples, and Tydeman's Red apples. (picture to the right)

The Lodi's are a great apple for making sauce, and they are incrediblay early as apples go, sometimes being ready around the 4th of July. In our case this year, we picked the Lodi on July 31st. The Tydeman's Red we picked this week. They are looking nice- especially after washing and polishing! (It's amazing the difference in an apples finish if you take just a few seconds to polish them with a damp cloth)

At this point, we have lots of everything, and will for some time to come. We are already planning the making of peach ice cream for the summer as well.

Please feel free to leave questions and comments. The more everyone participates, the better this blog will be!

Jeff

WOW! We have Peaches!

Today we had 3 guys picking peaches all day long. We have started up our large cooler (tractor trailer size) and it is filling up! We are now into the freestone peaches (including Red Haven) and are picking some White Lady as well. In addition, we have several bushels of Nectarines.
Because we don't have a huge number of white peaches, we will not be putting those into CSA shares; rather we will offer them for sale on a first come, first served basis. If you would like to reserve some, send an email to farmspecialorder@yahoo.com to become part of our Special Order Program, or SOP. In the meantime, I've got to get some sleep- more peaches to pick and sort tomorrow! This is truly a time to enjoy the fruit of our labor. (pun intended)

Farmer Karen checks the compost

Composting, like many farm tasks, requires a certain degree of precision. This is a photo of Farmer Karen taking temperature readings of one of our compost windrows to determine when the windrow should be turned.

Some of our helpers

We have been very lucky this summer to have some wonderful volunteer helpers. Dan, Emily, and Peter have been coming to the farm 3 days each week, and helping us with many farm chores. The first picture (top) is Peter, the center is Emily, and the bottom is Dan, driving our 1946 Farmall tractor. Thank you all for sharing your time (and muscles) with us this summer!

Raspberries are looking good!

If you look closely, you can see my hands are full of ripe and ready raspberries. This is a crop we grow in two different ways. In this picture, I'm standing in the outdoor row- we also grow several varieties in our high tunnel. The high tunnel allows us to get greater yields in a more controlled environment. We have installed irrigation tubing in the high tunnel as well, so the berries are always carefully watered. While we harvest the berries from the high tunnel, we offer most of the outdoor berries as a pick your own crop for our csa members. Ask us about it the next time you stop by!
Jeff

We need your help!

We are trying to update our office, and could use some donations. Do you have an old computer that you would like to get rid of? I've listed the specs we are looking for. If you have anything you would like to pass on, please email me at farmspecialorder@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Mac G5 or Intel processor, with monitor, keyboard, mouse. 1gb ram, OSX 10.4 or better.
PC Running Windows XP 1gb ram
PC Running Windows Vista, 2gb ram

(For those who are interested, we are currently operating with a Pentium III 450mhz running windows 2000 professional.)

Sometimes things just break..... and then you fix them

A few days ago I went to turn the compost piles for the first time this year. Oops, flat tire on the compost turner. At first we thought we would have to get a tire service out to repair it, but, thanks to Sonny, we were able to get the tire and rim off the machine and into the pickup truck. I took it up to Martin's Tire in Churchtown, and then was able to pick it up this morning. As of about 11am it's back on and the compost turner is ready to go as soon as things dry up a bit. For any of you live near the farm, I have to reccomend Martin's. They are the least expensive place I've found to buy tires, and their service is great! Shoot me an email if you want their number.
Jeff

Where do the #3 peaches go?

Well, sometimes we just put them on the compost pile, but lately we have been feeding them to the chickens! We have a small pastured laying hen operation, and we often feed the girls vegetable scraps, and now peaches, in addition to the grass and insects they normaly enjoy! Though we do feed them a daily ration of layer mash from the feed mill, these fruit and vegetable treats really make the difference for these girls. And when it comes to the eggs, well, you can Taste The Difference!

Sweet Corn and Apples

The sweet corn is up and growing well!(A little weedy though) It recently "tassled" and "silked" meaning that we are not far from picking. This is an exciting moment for us! Also, we recently picked our Lodi apple tree, giving us 3 bushels of great sauce apples. Let us know if you'd like some, they won't last long!

Day of the Peaches

Today is a peach picking day. We generally pick peaches every other day, then sort them into first quality, second quality, and third quality. The thirds are usually sent right to the compost pile. Firsts are the peaches you see in your weekly share, seconds are peaches with some blemish that we will sell at a greatly reduced price. The seconds are also the peaches we make our peach butter and peach ice cream from.

At the begining.....

Well, here it is. The very first post of the soon to be famous Vollmecke Orchards & CSA blog. It's 11:30pm (I can't sleep tonight) and I thought I'd just get this going. Tomorrow is a peach picking day, so I am going back to bed.
Jeff