NOTE: Apple availability updated FRIDAY, 9/11/15. See below.

Thanks for the great Labor Day weekend! So fun to be around all your enthusiastic attitudes! Especially the couple who was going to go home and process 11 (Yes, 11! buckets of apples that afternoon into applesauce.)

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. Come try some if you never have before.

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

Because of the cooler weather, the Melrose have an extra beautiful color this year...just such a nice pink/red color.

ALL Jonagold rows are now ripe for picking! 9 rows total. Come pick your hearts out! I talked about Jonagold more in a previous post but they are a great all-purpose apple. Fantastic for everything! Super crispy and a sweet/tart flavor. Definitely a favorite of mine.

Other apple update:

Honeycrisp- Pretty much gone but if you look inside the tree, you will still find some small size ones.

Gala- 1/4 of each of the 2 rows is left. Walk ALL the way to the far end. Getting pretty ripe. Still good for eating but losing it's crispiness some. GREAT for applesauce at this point too. We do have some random trees in the older part of the orchard too we can take you too.

Ruby Jon- Just opened these last week, so lots left.

Ruby Mac- Plan on these being gone by mid-day today (Friday). Only a few buckets left.

Smoothies- Done

D'Anjou pears have all been sold. Pears of all kinds are done for the season.

Up Next:

Golden Delicious should be up next. Still a little too green and tart so I am holding out on those for awhile longer.

For those of you who bought some D'Anjou pears, I thought this was an interesting article about chilling and ripening pears successfully.

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/node/413

Other Farm Happenings:

We just planted a new grass seed field last week, so we are irrigating that and waiting for it to sprout up! Plus we still have a field of corn growing so we have to keep up with watering that. It will be ready to harvest soon...our last crop to harvest for the season besides apples. We have almost made it! :)

So a little calmer pace around the farm, but of course still many small detail things to keep up with.