Bill demonstrates the way to pick apples. Never pull or twist, just gently lift the apple up.
The orchard was buzzing with activity this summer!
Not too long ago the honey bees were in the orchard pollinating, making this all possible!
Beautifully ripe Honey Crisp apples.
The branches were overflowing with apples!It's been a while since I gave an update on the orchard project. The State Fair is over but there are mounds of residual paperwork left to complete so that project may not be wrapped up for another month. Thank goodness we found a good home for the apples this year because, with our schedules, we would either have failed the orchard terrible or be in the loony bin by now, had we taken it on ourselves.
To date, our friends in charge of getting the apples to the out state food shelves have picked approximately 24 - 40# boxes of Zestar apples, 2 - 40# boxes of Sweet Sixteen and 22 - 40# boxes of Honey Crisp. The Honey Crisp trees are still heavy with fruit so an additional 22 boxes is expected. There are also Victory apples to be picked and then three different types of pears. The pear trees didn't set well this year so there are fewer than anticipated. Those will be purchased and picked by a local orchard keeper with the funds going directly to the organization picking the apples to be dispersed amongst the food shelves.
I think this project is going better than expected for all and my hope is that it can continue for next year. Thanks Bill and all for such a great job!
