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Hi Everyone,
I have a lot to cover, so this one is going to be a little long. I appreciate you taking the time to read it; I'm sure you all are really busy.
In the interest of giving you the best fall experience possible, we're changing a couple of things significantly this year (of course if you're new to us this year, just ignore the "change" part of my rambles, and welcome!). And after I fill you in on the changes, I'll include the schedule for this weekend's special activities.
Apples
Pick-your-own apples will start tomorrow...err...today, Friday Sept 23rd. Pick-your-own apples will be available anytime during business hours until we get picked out (probably not a problem until later in the season). As in previous years, you purchase a bag and walk out into the orchard to fill it. This weekend we have Jonagold and Melrose available for pick-your-own behind the market. Pick the reddest ones you can find; some of the really green ones are still a little under ripe.
Ok, now the changes. On the weekends, we'll usually have someone outside selling the u-pick bags, so you hopefully won't have to wait through a big line. The other change involves the price. This year u-pick will be the same price as buying them in the store, $19/half bushel bag (I think last year you saved a dollar). I'm sure some people will be unhappy about this, but you're not only getting the u-pick experience, you're getting a whole bunch of extra stuff especially during the festival weekends, most of which we won't be charging for. And you're still getting apples at less than $1/pound. But the main reason for, and your benefit from, the price change is that if you go out and decide (this weekend for example) that you don't want a whole bag of Jonagold and Melrose, then you can bring the bag back in and fill it with other kinds from the store. The u-pick bag is different than the store bags, so we'll know you've already pre-paid. You can get your apples, and you're good to go.
We have people every year that want a ton of varieties available for u-pick when they're here. This will hopefully solve some of that. A quick aside: there are a couple reasons we limit the u-pick to the varieties we do. First, we choose varieties that are good for u-pick...they (usually) ripen pretty evenly, pick easily, are good quality without a lot of seconds, and are pretty popular. Second, apples ripen from early July through November...there aren't ever more than a few kinds ripe at the same time. Finally, a lot of our orchard isn't easily accessible and has mixed up rows. It just wouldn't work for u-pick.
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