Closed for the winter -- open again late February or early March for strawberry picking

December 8, 2011 

Our harvest season is usually from early March through early August.  We are primarily a pick-your-own orchard, but most of the season we have fruits and vegetables, which we have picked, available for customers who are unable, or prefer not, to pick.

Strawberry season is mainly March and April; blackberries come in during May and June; and more than ten different varieties of peaches (each with its own two week harvest season) span from late May until early August.  Although only a small part of our operation, we also grow an assortment of vegetables.  The best way to know what is in season at any particular time is to check back here regularly.  When we begin harvesting, the information here on the website is updated frequently, in order to inform our customers of what is currently available, and what is coming next.

Picking begins in March, continuing into May.

Strawberries

Strawberry season is primarily March and April.  In June/July we remove the old plants, take out the old plastic and irrigation lines, and plow up the field.  In September we rebuild the plastic-covered beds, and in October we plant new plants.

Leaf fall in the peach orchard in November 2011.

Peaches

Peaches are our primary crop!

  We currently have 13 varieties, ripening between mid-May and early August.  Each variety lasts approximately two weeks.

  Peach trees produce best when they have had adequate "chilling hours" during their winter dormancy, from November through February.  During this dormancy, freezes do not usually cause any harm to the trees.  The trees bloom and set their fruit in March, followed by the emergence of the new foliage.  In April, our workers begin the tedious work of thinning.  Thinning is the task of removing excessive fruit, so that the remaining peaches can grow to larger size.  This work is done almost exclusively by hand, one peach at a time!

From late February to early April, we are always vulnerable to freezing weather, which can result in either a partial or total loss of the year's peach crop.  Springtime is also when there is the threat of thunderstorms, accompanied by hail, which may scar or devastate the crop.

Our first peach variety is usually ready to start picking about the third week of May.  A lot of pruning, irrigating, fertilizing, insect prevention and weeding goes on year-round, in order to maintain healthy peach trees, and to produce good quality fruit.

Blackberries

  Blackberry season is May and June.  We have four varieties, that ripen at different times over that two month period.  The plants are tied up on trellis wires, with grass walkways between, for ease of picking.

Vegetables

Because of the threat of killing freezes, most of our summer vegetables can not be planted until early April, which results in harvest being mostly in June and July.  We try to have a good assortment of vegetables each year.

 Although we allow some pick-your-own, we do most of the picking of the vegetables ourselves, so that we can be sure that they will be harvested at their freshest and best early each morning.  They are then available for sale at our orchard stand, until they are sold out for that day.

We do not grow fall and winter vegetables.

Hours of Operation

Our current hours will be posted here when harvest begins.  When our crops are abundant, and more fruit ripening every day, we are typically open every day, all day, with the exception of closing on Sunday mornings.  When the fruit is not abundant, and the demand is great, we will close earlier in the day, when we feel like the ripest fruit has been exhausted for that day.  Occasionally, we must close a full day or more, in order to assure that our customers will have the ripest, best tasting fruit.

When we have adequate fruit and staffing, you will find us also selling at the Fredericksburg Farmers Market.  That market generally runs from May through August (and possibly again in October and November), once a week, on Thursdays from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the Marktplatz (Market Square) in the middle of downtown Fredericksburg.

Prices

Since our products are not manufactured, and are at the mercy of nature, the quality, size and quantity can easily vary from week to week, especially in our many peach varieties.  Therefore, our pricing is also flexible, reflecting those changing conditions.  Our strawberry and blackberry prices generally remain the same throughout most of their respective seasons.  Prices for pick-your-own are less than if we do the picking for you.  However, due to the need for competent employees to assist customers with picking instructions and supervision, the prices are only moderately different.  We occasionally offer discounts when we want to encourage customers to come out and help us pick an over-abundance of ripe fruit, before it becomes a loss.  Since the demand for our fruit usually is greater than the supply, we rarely have the need to wholesale our products, nor offer reduced prices for customers picking larger quantities.