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)