Honeycrisp apple is ready! (2014)

Finally time for your guy's favorite apple!

Honeycrisp are an excellent eating apple.  Very juicy and sweet.  They are also great for baking and applesauce.  Honeycrisp keep their shape well when baked.

We have 3 rows of Honeycrisp, and an " every other tree is Honeycrisp" row.  As of right now, you will find the ripest Honeycrisp on the most eastern outside row of the 3 Honeycrisp rows,  and on the "every other tree is Honeycrisp" row.  If that is confusing, pretty soon all will be the same and it won't matter :)

Some of the Honeycrisp are more red (a tiny bit more ripe), and some are more green colored, like the bottom photo but don't worry, they are all sweet.  The green ones just don't get as much sunshine so don't get a chance to get as red.

Other apples still yummy and available:

Gala

Ruby Mac

Smoothies

(Check previous blog posts for information/pictures on each of these varieties)

Bartlett Pears are SOLD OUT.
In awhile we will have D'Anjou pears available.  I'll let you know when!


NEXT UP: 

Jonagold

 

FYI, We are also on Facebook under Beilke Family Farm if you want another way to hear when your favorite apple is ready.

Gala and Smoothies are ready!

For some reason apple season doesn't officially start in my mind until Gala are ready.  
So I guess it is official :)

Galas are one of our sweetest apples. They are great for applesauce, baking and eating.  Lots of these available!

  
Smoothies are a early ripening variety of Golden Delicious.  They are a sweet apple too that are great for eating and baking.

 They are a little hidden so we have a big white sign guiding you but you have to walk past half a row of seemingly good Golden Delicous (that are NOT ripe) to get to the Smoothies which ARE ripe :)  Trust me they are worth the effort.  They are very tasty!

 

And still lots of Ruby Mac out there of course.

Still have Bartlett pears available too!

ALSO wanted to let you know that we will have more limited hours on Sundays this year, and will be open 12pm-6pm.

See you in the orchard!

Good News or Bad News First?

Don't worry it is nothing life or death.  Let me just say that first!

I always like to get the bad news over with first.....

Bad news:  Gravenstein apples have all been picked.  Do I hear any groans?
I hope everyone that wanted some were able to get some this year!  I think this year was a record for how fast they were picked!  Glad you guys are enjoying them!

GOOD NEWS:  We do have another apple ripe!  Ruby Mac apples are ready now.
Ruby Mac are a great eating apple and for applesauce.  You can use them in pies too but is best to mix with another apple since Ruby Mac break down easily when cooked.

(The Ruby Mac picture on the left has been shined up on my pant leg :) The left picture is straight from the tree.



We also have Bartlett pears pre-picked available to you.  $5 for a small bucket, $11 for a 5 gallon bucket.

Apple Season is here! Gravenstein apples are starting us off.

Everyone keeps asking if the Gravensteins are ready.  It is finally time!

Come pick starting tomorrow! (Monday), 8am-dusk.

(Gravenstein are the only apple ready now!  Ruby Mac and Gala will be coming next but NOT ripe yet).

Gravenstein apples are an old time favorite.  They are excellent for baking and applesauce, probably one of the best, in many people's opinion.  Sweet-tart flavor with an excellent crunch.

Many people I know, will let the apples sit for awhile before they use them for their pies, almost until they are getting a few days from throwing out, but not too soft that you can't use one of those apple/peeler/corer "machines."   They make a really good pie filling that breaks down some, instead of staying in stiff slices.

We have half a row of Gravenstein so if they are a must for you, don't waste time in coming.  They usually go pretty fast.

The closest way to find the Gravenstein apples, and the least far to carry the buckets are if you park up by the office/shop instead of out back like you would later in the season.  Follow the signs that are to the south of the shop and they will take you out to the Gravensteins.

It will be a bit self-serve for Gravenstein, but once we get going with Ruby Mac and Gala, we will have people working to help you more out in the orchard.  In the meantime, I hope the signs will guide you to where you want to go!

Honeycrisp Trees are in the Ground!

Small Updates First:  

We will be having We-Pick/U-Pick Blueberries this Saturday, 9am-4pm but Saturday may be the last day.  Possibly next Thursday thru Saturday we may be open depending on how the fruit looks.  But after that we say good-bye to blueberries for another year.

But the good news is that U-Pick apples are right around the corner.  We keep checking our Gravensteins.  Still a bit too green but will keep checking and I will post on here when they are ready. 

Farm Happenings:

Skid steer with auger = good!  Shovel = No good!
I am so thankful for advances in technology.   Using the auger to dig the tree holes was great.  We even had a smaller one for the post holes.  Of course, I AM thankful for shovels too because they do fill the holes in.

Digging apple tree holes with an auger.

Grandpa supervising the planting.

We strung a line to keep the row straight, then started planting.


If you look closely, you can see the tree is grafted.  I think I talked about this in a previous post a bit but a little recap.  It is impossible to get Honeycrisp trees right now ordered in so we took some cuttings and grafted them onto  Golden Delicious trees.  Eventually we will cut the Golden Delicious tree off as the Honeycrisp graft takes off. (And actually ALL apple trees are grafted....the bottom rootstock decides how big the tree will grow, and the top graft decides what kind of fruit the tree will bear.)

And there they be!  All planted and ready to grow.
Next things to check off are to get some sprinkler heads attached to the underground irrigation and plant some grass rows.  Oh and of course continue putting the posts up (working on that now) and stringing some wire to help train the trees to grow straight.

And something just for fun.....
We are hoping this keeps the birds from stealing our blueberries.
Burma Shave style  :)
Hope you are all are surviving the heat!  I'm sure some of you LOVE it!  And others, like me, are just trying to survive it :)