Apple season 2013

It's October 1 and that means the apple harvest is in full gear.  The early apples, Zestar! and Ginger Gold, have been picked and mostly sold.  Our first year with the 'next big thing,' also known as SweeTango, has gone well.  Almost all of them are sold - they will be gone today or tomorrow.  I have had SweeTango in the past, mostly from the store - usually from Washington state - and not been terribly impressed.  But having SweeTango grown locally and picked ripe changed my mind.  It is a pretty tasty apple; a great mix of its parent apples, Zestar! and Honeycrisp.  It has the juiciness of both combined with the crisp of Honeycrisp and the zest of Zestar!  [Personally I find Honeycrisp a bit bland. Sweet & crisp, but bland.]  The Honeycrisp and Sweet Sixteen are both ready now, with the first of the Haralson coming off their trees; the Cortland are also ready & should be showing up at markets soon.  We still have SnowSweet, Regent, Honeygold, and Keepsake to finish off the season - they ripen in early October & everything seems to be about 2 weeks behind this year so we've just barely started tasting them.

Were you wondering how many Honeycrisp there  will be this year?  Well, here's the long story: Straight River Farm was home to a MFVGA Field Day in September.  About 40 fruit and vegetable growers from around the state converged on us and toured the farm to talk about soil management.  SRF was chosen for this Field Day because Farmer Bill has a lot of different soil types and is growing a lot of different crops.  Preparing the farm for visitors during apple season was a bit difficult and in the end a lot of things got shoved into buildings and the doors closed on them.  The grass was a bit longer than we wanted because the belt on the mower broke on the Saturday and couldn't be replaced in time (field day was Monday).  But the day inevitably arrived, the discussions were held, many of our fields were toured, and everyone seemed pleased with the outcome.  So, Honeycrisp.  At the end of the Field Day our apple consultant told us he thinks we have 2000 bushel of Honeycrisp to harvest!  Allowing for his enthusiastic nature, we figure we have at least 1000 to maybe 1500 bushel. Farmer Bill is working on plans to move those apples - in a somewhat flooded market.  What a change from last year, when our apple harvest and sales were over by October 15 and we harvested about 100 bushel of Honeycrisp!  It's a terrifying and exhilarating difference.  When I asked Farmer Bill about selling all of those Honeycrisp, he said "We'll just keep plugging away..."  We're both pretty tired all the time, what with long days and lots of logistics to manage, but it's made a little easier to handle with the knowledge that SRF might turn a profit this year. Farmer Bill might even be able to set aside some money for next year's start up costs.  I am trying not to count chickens until they're hatched, but it's hard to completely resist.

Next time: why Farmer Bill owes me lunch in Paris.