We started harvesting the Galas at the Gilbert block on Monday. The crew had to shut down after a couple of hours of picking because of rain. We knew that was a possibility because of the forecast but we decided to forge ahead since we have so much fruit yet to harvest.
Here you can see the Gala block on the right hand side of the tractor. Bill is working at filling that ditch to the left of the tractor. He has an ongoing deal with a local contractor who brings rock and debris from job sites to dump it here. It's a good arrangement for both parties. Eventually we'll top it off with soil and plant an additional acre of fruit. You might be able to see the compost piles on the other side of the ditch? We continually create compost through another ongoing deal with a lawn care company that dumps their clippings & leaves on our piles. We enrich the pile with cow manure from Farmer Dave's fine herd up the canyon.
Ta da! Here are our Galas this year. Aren't they beautiful? We are so proud of them. This year they have excellent color and size. In years past our size hasn't been that great because of our spray thinning program. The objective in spray thinning at bloom is to keep the king bloom and remove the rest. The king bloom is the center blossom and represents the biggest apples. Bill achieved this by waiting 2 days longer than his usual spray date to ensure the kings had set. Voila! It worked. We added the reflective cloth in between rows this year to see if it would help color. Voila again! It worked.
Our truck driver Paul is loading the Galas. A full truck load is 20 bins. He stacks them 2 high and loads 10 and each side of the trailer. He straps and cables them and hauls them to Chelan Fruit where they are received in the Stemilt building. Paul does a great job. I've only hauled a couple of apple loads. Apples are a little trickier than cherries because they weigh so much more. The trip down Boyd road has to be much slower.
Here is our picking crew. We finished the Galas on Tuesday and moved down to the Lake Goldens on Wednesday. Although we have a good crew, it's too small. We need more pickers! Rodolfo had some good ideas for me. He suggested an ad on KOZI's Spanish Radio Program on Sunday and a sign on the side of the road before you get to WalMart by Friday. The weekend is a big shopping time for the Hispanic community, so if we can get our sign up by Friday we should get some calls. I just happen to know the Spanish radio host Gilberto, and I've asked him to announce our ad on Sunday. Hopefully by next Monday we'll have 30 pickers to start the Honeycrisp at Triangle C.
That's me having lunch with Bill under a Golden tree. Nice view of the lake, huh?
Here's a better picture of the view. This is our 22nd year of harvesting here. Natalie was just a wee babe when we started farming here. Getting this acreage was key to our farming start up. Bill's dad had daily breakfast with a local group of farmers. He connected his Bill to the owner of this block, Bill Peebles, and it all fell into place. To begin with, we were just going to farm his reds, then in the spring Bill Peebles' son in law quit farming the Goldens so we took that on as well. We didn't have a crew yet and BC (Bill Clark) did a lot of the work himself. I remember the red block was on a steep hillside and BC used hay hooks to drag the wooden bins up the hill to be in place for harvest. What a work out! BC had amazing upper arm muscles. Tyler Clark referred to them as "Uncle Bill arms." The money we made here in 1991 allowed us to start building our house. BC's arm muscles were also handy for building our house.
Bill Peebles died in his sleep the fall of 1992. We were harvesting the reds by his house and I noticed the door to his house wide open. Bill Peebles was in his 80's and I was afraid of what I would find so I told my Bill. Bill found Bill in his chair. It appeared he had died in his sleep. Bill Peebles had been going strong up until he died. He would come up and help us in the orchard with his tractor. He was a good friend and business partner.
When Bill died, his property was sold. The reds stopped being profitable in the late 90's, and they were removed. We have continued farming the Goldens with the new property owner. In 2008 it became organically certified. The production has been inconsistent so we're thinking this will be our last year with this lease. Bill is having second thoughts. The packing shed Columbia does very well selling organic Goldens and these Goldens this year look really good.
It will take us through Saturday to finish harvesting this block.
Wow, that was a lot of information! Now it's time to play the Farm Quiz game. Are you ready?
What does Grandma have in her shovel?
a. Rattler
b. Lead rope
c. Arvid
d. Cobra
Answer: Stay tuned tomorrow!
Hint: One of Grandma's many talents could be snake whispering!
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