Fall is here and we are coming down the home stretch.  We have 2 weekends for sure and maybe 3 and the season will be over.  Its hard to believe that the orchard has already been open for 6 weeks, but it has!  The season goes by really fast.  Every year, I'm amazed at how fast things go.  Seems like a couple of weeks ago we were planting and now here it is fall already.
  This weekend, we will be picking the last of the McIntosh and Sweet Sixteen and we will start picking Haralson/Haralred and Snow Sweet.  If you like a good sweet and tart apple, then the Haralson is for you.  It has been one of Minnesotas most popular apples for a long time.  The Haralred is almost the same as the Haralson except that its alittle bit more red in color.  The taste of the 2 is identical.  Snow Sweet is a firm, crisp apple that is very slow to oxidize.  In other words, it doesnt turn brown right away like most other apples.  It also has, I think, a buttery flavor.  Very good!  I will also be making cider for the weekend, so come on out and try some.  You still have time to get your favorite apple, but dont wait too long....

With fall approaching, the orchard has become quite busy!  The weather this weekend sounds like we could get alittle more rain.  but unless its pouring out, we will be open.  This weekend we will be picking the last of the Honey Crisp, Sweet Sixteen, which are at there prime right now and McIntosh.  The storms that we had on Tuesday night made a mess of things in the orchard, but we should have most of it cleaned up by Saturday.  In the end, we lost around 20 trees and I'll bet we picked up 30-40 bushels that were on the ground!  Thats Mother Nature for you.  Not much you can do, except to move on.  One thing about having an orchard is that you are always in a planting mode.  Trees die or storms take them out and you replant.  Thats just the way it is.  At any rate, stop out this weekend if its not raining too bad, pick up a bag of apples and with alittle luck, I'll make some cider also.  See you then!

  For those of you who have been waiting, the time has arrived.  We will be picking Honey Crisp this weekend.  We will also be picking Sweet sixteen and the McIntosh are just about ready as well.  It looks like the weather could be a factor, but I think we will be alright.  The crop of Honey Crisp is about half of what it was last year.  If you talk to anyone who grows this apple commercially, they will say the same thing.  They can be a difficult apple to grow .  This is also the reason why we planted as many varieties as we did in the first place.  You will always have good and not as good years.  There are literally hundreds of different apples that we can grow here and each one of them is very good.  If you have never had a Sweet Sixteen, then try one this weekend and I think you will be surprised.  Also, our supply of honey is not going to last much longer.  If you want or like good local honey, then dont wait.  See you this weekend!

This weekend looks to be a beautiful one and the weather also looks to be great!  We will be picking Zestar, Chestnut Crab and maybe some Sweet Sixteen.  All 3 of these are excellent apples in there own right and you need to try them to pick your new favorite.  For those of you who are wanting Honey Crisp, they are about a week away. And just so you know ahead of time, the crop of Honey Crisp is about half of what it was last year.  Other than that, the cider is great and the honey supply is holding out so far although it won't last forever so if you want and like good local honey, then dont wait too long.  See you this weekend!