I see the last post was on August 25, a full month ago. Since then Farmer Bill has worked non-stop, averaging 16 hour days, seven days a week. The apple harvest is different than strawberry season. For one thing it lasts much, much longer. Strawberry season averages 18 days; apple harvest averages 6 weeks -- for the picking -- 10 or more weeks to sell the crop.
Last year Farmer Bill managed to find a farmers' market on Mondays, which used to be his day off marketing. So he now markets 7 days a week. Good news is that he found a great employee, Ryan C., who goes to markets for him several days per week. Of course, Farmer Bill just found other markets to go to on those days. But I suppose the more markets he goes to, the more apples he sells & the sooner his crop is sold. But it can be pretty exhausting.
Because Bill is such a people person, and is so conscientious about his farming, he has begun to develop relationships with agritainment orchards. An orchard in Delano has purchased large quantities of our Honeygold apples for 3 years now. Honeygold ripen about October 1; they are a green/yellow apple with a firm texture & a mild sweet flavor. They eat and cook well, but sell very slowly, and SRF always has more Honeygold than we can sell at farmers' markets. So the relationship with Apple Jack has been a great boon. This year Bill found an orchard that needed Zestar! and was able to sell 50 bushel at a good price (before they softened -- and before the Honeycrisp came in). That same orchard is now interested in some of our Honeycrisp, which means they were pleased with the quality of the Zestar! they got. These are small orders in the scheme of things, but huge for our operation. A third venue that may work well for Farmer Bill is a produce auction in northern Iowa. Bill took apples there 2 years ago, but last year's crop was so small that he didn't need additional outlets (except for Honeygold!). This week he sent a load of apples down and it sold -- very well at very good prices. Additional apples will be going to the auction next week. All of these sales are down to Farmer Bill. He seeks out possible venues. He develops relationships. He treats people fairly, respectfully, and evenly, always.
Okay, I got a Saturday off from marketing today -- a total fluke -- so now I have to quit messing about on the computer and go make good use of this 'free' time. Applesauce to make, apple rings to dry, and the usual laundry to work on and bathrooms to clean, although very little housework gets done this time of year beyond keeping the kitchen clean and trying to keep us in clean underwear. By the beginning or middle of November I should be able to start doing a thorough cleanup...
