Jan 9, 2018
2018 Kishu Mandarin Season Update from Churchill Orchard:
Very small crop. Drought, then fire, now rain.
We have to wait and see about mail order service.
We're sorry.
We're holding fruit for farmer's markets.
We wish we had better news - we have a small Kishu crop this year. We have a small packing crew this year. That's why we've been so quiet - we're trying to figure out how much mail order fruit we can pack and ship out.
We still have a couple of weeks to survive before we can ship fruit and the rain has finally arrived - with mudslides that will miss the orchard but close the roads. We will have to wait to see how the Kishus survive this deluge.
We know we don't have enough Kishus and packers this year to serve a national mail order season and support our farmer's markets. We're very sorry not to be able to ship to you all this year. We hope to serve a very small group of our original customers, and if there's any fruit after that, we will ship locally.
There's been an uptick in interest in the Kishu, and some ordering information that was published in error - not by us. We have been contacted by many new folks that we would love to serve - but we don't have the fruit this year.
Original customers, we'll be contacting you when we see how much fruit survives til it's ready.
Thank you for understanding. We will contact you when we have news.
We'll send out a followup email when we're ready to take orders - if there's enough fruit, our remaining 2018 Kishu shipping will be limited to California addresses. California customers, we hope to serve you.
By serving California, we can still get our Kishus out there and the small packing crew we've been able to assemble will have more days to pack - because we aren't restricted to shipping on Monday only.
There is some good news: The trees are fine, and our Ojai PIxies and avocado crops survived the Thomas fire - we had significant fruit loss to wind, but hey...
We will be in the Berkeley, and Ojai farmers markets this year starting in February. We're offering certified organic Kishus, avocados, Page mandarins and Ojai Pixies! (Details are below.)
Ojai Pixie mail order season will start in April.
If you'd like to learn more about how the historic Thomas wildfire affected our valley, please read the Ojai Pixie Growers Fire report. A gripping read.
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| Kishus at Churchill Orchard. Post-fire, pre-rain. |
We're Coming Back to the Berkeley Farmers Markets!
East Bay Kishu fans: We had a wonderful time last year, so Lisa and Kathy will bring our seasonal stand back to Berkeley in for a couple of months starting in February: the North Berkeley Farmers Market Thursdays from 3-7 PM and the Downtown market Saturdays from 10AM-3PM.
We'll have Kishus and a nice selection of our organic avocados. It's not a big stand, but if you want to pick up a few pounds of fruit to see you through the week, please stop by. You might get to meet Lisa's mom Aida!
Look for us starting Saturday February 3rd.
Berkeley FM information:
http://www.ecologycenter.org/bfm/
Ojai Farmers Market starts Sunday Jan 14!
Jim will be opening our Big Stand at the Ojai Farmers Market starting Sunday Jan 14th. Market hours are 9AM to 1PM. He brings a lot of everything we grow. Including Kishus.Please come by.
We are very grateful to you for your continued appreciation and support of our fruit.
Jim Churchill & Lisa Brenneis
Churchill Orchard in the Ojai Valley
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