ASIAN PEARS

      It may be the middle of August but the trees are transitioning into fall.  Asian Pears are starting to fill the farm stand.  We have two yellow varieties: 20th Century (Nijyuseiki) and New Century (Shinseiki).  The brown varieties are:  Hosui, Yoi, and Shinko.  All are crisp, juicy and sweet.  They vary in flavor and tenderness.  Refrigerate these for a refreshing treat.
     We will be harvesting the last 2 varieties of peaches in the next two weeks.  Supply will be limited so it might be best to call ahead.  Our peach season was a bit disappointing.  Not as juicy and flavorful as previous years.  Some were bitter, some were mushy.  As we reflect on our years of experience, we have to conclude that growing peaches is a challenge.  The farming practices, the weather, the irrigation water, the ground water, the nutrients, etc. all have an influence on the result.  As farmers, after the harvest is in and winter then spring arrive,  there is always hope for a great peach season the next time.
     We are harvesting our last variety of plums.  Casselman are flavorful, juicy and sweet with a little tang.  They still represent the taste of summer.
     We have increased our water use but trees are just asking for more.  The ground doesn't seem to retain much moisture and our excess water drainage system has never been drier.    The old swamp is dry and the surrounding eucalyptus trees are shedding limbs.  We are looking forward to cooler weather and moisture from the sky.

     Currently in the farm stand:
Peaches: limited supply of Late Alamer, Summerset, and Fairtime
Plums:  Kelsey, Casselman, Elephant Heart, Friar
Grapes:  Limited supply of Kyoho and Thompson Seedless
Figs:  Brown Turkey, black Mission, and Green
Citrus:  Valencia oranges
Asian Pears:  20th century, New Century, Hosui, Yoi, and Shinko
European Pears:  Bartlet
Vegetables:  Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, Asian cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, long beans, eggplant, tomatillos, hot and sweet peppers, basil, and okra.
Sunnyslope Farm is bringing us yellow freestone peaches
Pleasant Hill Farm is bringing us Friar plums and Hosui and Niitaka Asian pears
Other Items:  Good Stuff Jams, Honey, salve, eggs, hoshigaki strips and grade B hoshigaki

Orders for Sierra Foothill Producer Coop is due Sept 8th with delivery Sept 16.  Check out Meat Deliveries at the web site:  sinclairfamily farm.net  

Lots of Fruit at the Fruit Stand

We now have lot of different kinds of fruit at the fruit stand.  Here's what we have:

• Peaches--Flavor Crest, June Crest, Regina, Bon Jour
• Apricots--Blenheim, Patterson
• Plums--Santa Rosa, Red Beaut
• Citrus Fruit--Pink Grapefruit, Valencia Oranges, Eureka Lemons
• Vegetables--Zucchini and Summer Squash
• Herbs--Oregano, Mint, Rosemary, Lemon Balm
• Honey--from bees at our orchard
• Eggs--from local free range chickens (and ducks)
• Beeswax candles--handmade 100% beeswax

If you're looking for plums for making jam, we have lots of hail-marked Santa Rosas that we're selling at a discount.  Call and let us know if  you'd like some set aside to pick up at the fruit stand.

Since the weather is warmer now hoshigaki mail orders have stopped until sometime in September.  We'll announce on the website when we begin again and post a new mail order form.

The fruit stand is open regular hours again.  We're open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 to 6:00, Sunday from 10:00-5:00 and closed on Monday. 

Turkeys, Persimmons, Coffee and Walnuts

Taffy the cat in a hachiya tree

We are selling fresh persimmons, hoshigaki (dried persimmons) and other fruit this month through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative. Through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative you can order local grass-fed, hormone free beef, lamb, pork and chicken, as well as eggs, cheese, produce, bread, honey, jams and sauces. New this month are fresh walnuts, locally roasted coffee and free-range turkeys. 

Orders are made online and then you choose one of five locations to pick up your order.  Locations are Otow Orchard (in Granite Bay), Sinclair Family Farm (in Penryn), Humbug Creek Drive in Folsom, Smoky's (in Truckee) and Tahoe Wellness (in Kings Beach).  

The next delivery from the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative to our orchard will be Friday, Nov. 22nd from 4:00-4:30. Orders must be sent in by 4:00 PM Thursday, Nov. 14th.

Late Spring at the Orchard

Beehives in the orchard just before a storm

In the fruit stand now we have pink grapefruit, yellow grapefruit, Eureka lemons, Swiss chard, fresh herbs, hoshigaki, local free-range eggs and honey from bees at the orchard.  Hoshigaki can still be ordered by mail order. 

This month you can also buy grapefruit, lemons and hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) from us through the Sierra Foothills Producers Co-op.  Make your order online by 4:00 Friday, May 10th and pick it up the next week either at Otow orchard or one of the other pick up locations. This month the Producers Co-op has chicken, quail and duck eggs, organic greens, locally made cheese, honey, sauces, naturally raised meat and other items. 

In the orchard the persimmons and pomegranates are blooming.  Grass is turning brown from the lack of rain.  People have been thinning the Asian pear in an effort to help the trees produce fewer but bigger fruit.  The vegetable gardens are almost planted.  We've been trying to finish planting tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, summer squash and cucumbers now that the weather is warmer even at night. 

Blossoming Orchard and Producer's Co-op

Blood orange, Grapefruit, Navel Orange, and lemon on a plum tree.

If you come to the fruit stand, free to go out and take a walk in the orchard. It's very pretty right now with the plum, pluot and apricot trees covered in white fluffy blossoms.  The peaches are just starting to put out  pink flowers, too.  It looks like this year peaches and plums will be blossoming at the same time, so the orchard will soon be full of pink and white flowering trees. 

At the fruit stand we now have grapefruit, navel oranges, blood oranges, Eureka lemons, Asian pear, kiwi and hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon).  Hoshigaki can still be ordered through mail order, too. 

If you order from the Sierra Foothills Producers Co-op by 4:00 on Friday, March 8th, you can pick up your order the next Friday, March 15th at our orchard, or at one of the four other delivery spots.  This month there are new local items offered, such as vegetables and honey.  We're selling hoshigaki, blood oranges and Eureka lemons through the Producers Co-op.

Hoshigaki Still Available

The rooster by a grapefruit tree

We still have hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) available from our orchard and also from Pleasant Hill Orchard in Newcastle.  Pleasant Hill orchard is a small orchard owned by the Nodahara family.  Pleasant Hill's hoshigaki is very sweet with fluffy sugar formed on the outside. Right now, there are three ways you can get hoshigaki from us.  

The best way to get hoshigaki is to just stop by the fruit stand, if you're able to. At the fruit stand we have Premium and grade A hoshigaki in various sized packages, as well as hoshigaki strips.  Another way is to order hoshigaki through mail order.  You can print out the order form, fill it out and mail it to us with a check.  We have both Otow Orchard hoshigaki and Pleasant Hill hoshigaki for a few dollars less per pound available through mail order.

A third way to get hoshigaki is to make an order through the Sierra Foothills Producer's Cooperative.  The Producers Co-op delivers once a month to five different sites around our area, including at our fruit stand.  Through the Producers Co-op you can also order locally produced meat, cheese, jams, sauces, and honey.  For February delivery, you must make your order online by 4:00 PM Feb. 8th.  Delivery at our orchard is Feb. 15th from 4:00-4:30. 
The other

New Fruits and Producers Co-op

We have three new fruits at the fruit stand--kiwi, naval oranges and blood oranges.  The kiwis are flavorful and the navels are sweet and juicy.  Blood oranges are less acidic and red inside with a red blush on the peel. We also have many mandarins at the fruit stand, as well as Asian pear and winter squash. All types of softening persimmons are available. We still have a good supply of hoshigaki for sale at the fruit stand and through mail order.

The January delivery to our orchard for the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative will be Friday, Jan. 18th, from 4-5 PM.  Orders need to be received by Friday, Jan. 11th at 4:00 PM.  Through the Producers Co-op you can order locally and naturally raised beef, chicken, lamb, pork and eggs; seasonal produce such as Meyer lemons and mandarins; and other locally made products like dressings, jams, sauces and cheese.  We are selling our hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) through the Producers Co-op this month.  Other delivery locations are in Auburn, Kings Beach, Truckee and Penryn. 

Mandarins & Producers Co-op

Chickens near a fuyu tree at sunset

We now have satsuma mandarins for sale at the fruit stand. These are sweet, easy to peel,  usually seedless mandarins. 

December orders for the Sierra Foothill Producers Co-op should be in by Friday, Dec. 14th at 4:00.  Through the Producers Co-op you can order local meat, cheese, eggs, produce and other products such as jams and sauces and then pick up the items at one of the designated delivery spots. The order form is online here.  Delivery will be made to our orchard on Fri., Dec. 21st from 4:00-5:00.  During the same week, there are deliveries in Auburn, Kings Beach and Truckee.  Karin Sinclair, who coordinates the co-op, also makes arrangements for pick-ups at her farm in Penryn.

This month we are selling hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmons), fuyu, hachiya and maru persimmons, white pomegranate, and Asian pear through the Co-op.  We're still selling these at the fruit stand, too, if you're able to stop by. Hoshigaki can also still be ordered through mail order by using the order form here on our website. 

Persimmons, Pears & Producers Co-op

Maru ("chocolate", Nagamaru, Hyakume & Nishimura Wase ("coffee cake") persimmons, (l. to r. in pairs)

This month our orchard is selling some of our persimmons and Asian pears through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative.  We are offering maru ("chocolate"), fuyu and hachiya persimmons as well as later varieties of Asian pear.

Through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative you can order local grass-fed, hormone free beef, lamb, pork and chicken, as well as eggs, honey, olive oil, jams, mandarins, persimmons and other produce and cheese. This month free range turkeys are also available. Orders are made online and then you choose one of four locations to pick up your order.  Locations are Otow Orchard (in Granite Bay), Sinclair Family Farm (in Penryn), Smoky's (in Truckee) and Tahoe Wellness (in Kings Beach). The next delivery from the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative to our orchard will be Friday, Nov. 19th from 4:00-5:00. Orders must be sent in by 4:00 PM Friday, Nov. 9th.   

Fruit Stand and Producers Cooperative

This year for the first time we have fresh chestnuts.  We also now have pippen and mutsu (also called crispin) apples. Other new items at the fruit stand are white pomegranate, winter squash, pumpkins and gourds.  Our pumpkin patch is now open for picking your own pumpkin, too. 

We've been peeling lots of persimmons for hoshigaki, but we don't yet have any finished from this season.  The drying process takes around six weeks at this time of year.  To order hoshigaki (dried persimmon) through mail order, please print out our order form and send in your order with a check.  We don't yet have hoshigaki in the fruit stand for sale.

Here's what we have in the fruit stand now:

• Persimmons--Maru (chocolate), soft hachiya
  
• Apples--Fuji, Mutsu, Golden Delicious
• Pomegranate--white variety (cream to pink outside, softer, sweeter pink seeds)
  
• Plums--Casselman
• Asian Pear--20th Century, New Century, Yoi, Shinko
• European Pear--Comic, D'Anjou
• Chestnuts
• Jujube
• Grapes--Muscat
• Vegetables--Tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant (Japanese and Italian), sweet peppers, hot chiles (jalapeno and fish), Swiss chard
• Winter Squash--Butternut, Kabocha, Acorn
• Herbs--Basil, oregano, mint (cut if you ask)
• Pumpkins--at the fruit stand or pick your own
• Decorative Gourds
• Honey--from bees at our orchard
• Beeswax candles--handmade 100% beeswax from the orchard
• The Art of Real Food Cookbook--by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenney
• Perfectly Persimmon Cookbook--1004 persimmon recipes by Jean Brine
• Master Gardeners Calender--by Placer County Master Gardeners

Through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative you can order local, naturally grown and raised meats, eggs, cheese, honey, olive oil, produce and products such sauces and marmalades. October orders must be made by Friday, Oct. 12th at 4:00 PM.  You can pick up your order in one of five locations including Otow Orchard at scheduled times during the week of Oct. 15th.  The next delivery at our orchard will be from 4:00 - 5:00 PM on Friday, Oct.  21st.

Asian vs. European Pears, Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative

Hosui and Bartlett pears

What's the difference between Asian pears and European pears? 

Asian pears are firmer and more like an apple in texture.  They're ripe and meant to be eaten when they're crisp like this.  If you wait for an Asian pear to become soft, then it will be overripe, mushy and bland tasting.  When we pick Asian pears from the trees, they're crisp, juicy and ready to eat right then.  There are many varieties of Asian pears that grow well in our area and ripen from August to November.  Most are roundish with skin ranging from yellow-green to brown.   Okusankichi, the largest variety of Asian pear we grow, is also the latest to ripen in November.

European pears are smoother textured and soft when ripe.  Bartlett, Comice, and D'Anjou are varieties of European pears that we grow at the orchard.  All these varieties of European pears must be picked from the trees when they're hard, green and unripe, then stored until they ripen.  If left to ripen on the trees, European pears are likely to be rotten in the core by the time they become yellow and soft on the outside.   We pick Bartlett, Comice, and D'Anjou when they're green, then ripen them slowly in the fruit stand or refrigerator until they're sweet, yellow and soft. Another way to ripen European pears is pick them green and wrap them in newspaper in a cool dark place (like in a box under the bed). 

Right now in the fruit stand we have many varieties of Asian pear (Hosui, Shinko, Yoi, New Century, 20th Century, Niitaka) and Bartlett and Comice European pear.  We're also selling Asian pear through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative for the month of September.  

Through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative you can order local, naturally grown and raised meats, eggs, cheese, honey, olive oil, produce and products such sauces and marmalades. September orders must be made by Friday, Sept 14th at 4:00 PM.  You can pick up your order in one of five locations including Otow Orchard at scheduled times during the week of Sept. 17th.  The next delivery at our orchard will be from 4:00 - 5:00 PM on Friday, Sept. 21st.

Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative

The Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative will make their August delivery at our orchard on Friday, Aug. 17th.  Orders must be received online by Friday, Aug 10th.  Through the Producers Cooperative you can order locally  and naturally raised beef, lamb, chicken,  and other local products such as eggs, cheese, honey, olive oil, jam, sauces and  produce. The name has recently been changed from the "Meat Buyers Club" since so many other local products are available too. If the Otow Orchard delivery isn't a convenient place or time, there are also deliveries in Auburn, Penryn, Truckee and Kings Beach.

Fruit Stand and Meat Buyers Club

A Santa Rosa Plum

The next delivery from the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club to our orchard will be Friday, June 20th from 4:30-5:00.  Orders must be sent in by 5:00 PM Friday, June 13th.  Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club you can order local grass-fed, hormone free beef, lamb, pork and chicken, as well as eggs, honey, olive oil, jams and mandarin products.  New this month are goat cheese, summer squash and cucumber.  Orders are made online and then you choose one of four locations to pick up your order.  Locations are Otow Orchard (in Granite Bay), Sinclair Family Farm (in Penryn), Smoky's (in Truckee) and Tahoe Wellness (in Kings Beach).  


The fruit stand is full of fruit now.  We now have Black Mission figs, Blackberries, nectarines and Donut peaches.  Donut peaches are flat with a tiny pit in the middle.  


Here's what's at the Fruit Stand now:  

• Blackberries
• Figs--Black Mission
• Peaches--Flavorcrest, Regina, Red Haven (all yellow varieties), Donut and Babcock (white varieties)
• Plums--Santa Rosa, Black Amber, Satsuma, Beauty, Frontier
• Nectarines--Jade (white variety)
• Apricots--Patterson and Blenheim
• Citrus Fruit--white Grapefruit, Valencia Oranges
• Vegetables--Zucchini, Summer Squash, Swiss chard, Eggplant, Cucumber
• Herbs--Oregano, Mint, Basil (cut if you ask)
• Honey--from bees at our orchard
• Beeswax candles--handmade 100% beeswax

Local Meat & Fruit Stand

Pomegranate blossoms, fruits should be ripe by October

Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyer's Club you can order locally and naturally produced  beef, lamb, chicken, eggs, honey and other items like olive oil, jam and marinades.  You make an order online and pick it up the either at our orchard in Granite Bay, or in one of the other locations in Penryn, Truckee, Kings Beach or Auburn.  June orders need to be placed by 5:00 this coming Friday, June 8th.  Delivery at our orchard is the next Friday afternoon, June 15th.

We've been busy at the orchard lately mowing, thinning persimmons, picking cherries, fixing irrigation, planting winter squash and tending the vegetable gardens.  

At the fruit stand we now have:

• Loquats
• Red Beaut Plums
• Cherries
• Valencia Oranges
• Grapefruit
• Eureka Lemons
• Herbs from the garden--oregano, mint
• Swiss Chard
• Applewood for Barbeque
• Honey from bees at our orchard
• Placer County Real Food Cookbook, by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenny

Oranges & Grapefruit

Ume branches in bloom (Japanese sour plum)

Blood oranges and grapefruit are now picked and at the fruit stand.  If you like soft persimmons, we have the very last ones of the season now.  We're still selling hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) at the fruit stand and through mail order, while supplies last.  Maybe hoshigaki would make a good Valentines or Chinese new year gift?

 The next delivery for the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club will be at our orchard from 4:00 - 5:00 on Friday, Feb. 17th. Orders need to be received by Fri.,  Feb. 10th at 5:00.  Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club you can order local naturally grown pork and lamb, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, eggs, honey and other local products. 

Here's what's at the fruit stand now:

• Mandarins--owari satsuma
  
• Navel Oranges
• Blood Oranges
• Lemons
• Kiwi
• Hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) 
• Soft Persimmons
  
• Perfectly Persimmon Cookbook--1004 persimmon recipes by Jean Brine
• Placer County Real Food Cookbook--by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenny
• Eggs

Meat Buyers Club & Late Mandarins & Persimmons

Chickens in the orchard by a mandarin tree.

New at the fruit stand now are navel oranges.  Grapefruit and kiwi should be coming soon. We still have lots of mandarins at the fruit stand, including  owari satsuma and another orange-red variety of satsuma.  Both are sweet and easy to peel mandarins, the difference is that the orange-red satsuma variety is darker on the outside and less acidic.

Surprisingly, there's still a good supply of persimmons at the fruit stand.  We have soft hachiya, firmer vodka-treated hyakume, fuyu and maru ('chocolate') persimmons.  Since both persimmons and mandarins ripened late this year, they're available later than usual. 

In late December KCRA channel 3 News came to visit the orchard to do a story on hoshigaki (Japanese hand dried persimmons).  You can see a slide show on the KCRA website.  The Nikkei West newspaper visited too and has an article about hoshigaki and Otow Orchard on the front page of the current issue.

The last hoshigaki is drying and we're down to only one drying room full now.  We still need to check on the hoshigaki to see how they're drying and massage them every few days until they're finished.  Shoko has been busy packing them up and sending out mail orders.  We're still taking hoshigaki orders for pick up at the fruit stand and by mail order, too.   

The next delivery for the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club will be at our orchard from 4:00 - 5:00 on Friday, Jan. 20th. Orders need to be received by Fri., Jan. 13th at 5:00.  Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club you can order local naturally grown pork and lamb, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, eggs and honey.  New this month are mandarins, navel oranges, meyer lemons and mandarin sauces.  Monthly deliveries are at our orchard in Granite Bay, Community Ink in Truckee,  Confluence Kitchen in Auburn and Sinclair Family Farm in Penryn.

Christmas Hoshigaki, Local Trees & Meat

We can't guarantee Christmas delivery on any hoshigaki mail orders postmarked after December 1st.  We're still taking mail orders but we can't promise that we'll be able to ship out any new orders and have them arrive at the customer or gift recipient address by Dec. 25th.   If you want to give hoshigaki as a Christmas gift, an option would be to let the person know the order is in and request on the mail order form that we mail the order to the gift recipient directly.  We'll do everything  we can to get your order out as soon as possible.

Hoshigaki is still for sale at our fruit stand.  Please call ahead if you'd like to pick up more than a pound at one time so we can set it aside for you.  

The next delivery from the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club at our orchard will be Friday, Dec.  16th from 4:00-5:00. Orders must be sent in by 5:00 PM Friday, Dec. 9th.  Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club you can order local grass-fed, hormone free beef, lamb, pork and chicken, as well as eggs, honey, kiwi, mandarin products, and the Placer County Real Food Cookbook.  Orders are made online and then you choose one of four locations to pick up your order.  Locations are Otow Orchard (in Granite Bay), Sinclair Family Farm (in Penryn), Confluence Kitchen (in Auburn) and Community Ink (in Truckee).

The Koyama Tree Farm next door to the orchard is selling Christmas trees this coming weekend and the next only.  The dates are Dec. 3rd and 4th, and Dec. 10th and 11th.  Hours are from 9-4.  These are the only days they'll be open for the season.  You can choose and cut your own tree.  Info about their farm and other local Christmas tree farms is at the PlacerGrown website.

Vodka Persimmons

We now have finished hyakume vodka-treated persimmons at the fruit stand.  These persimmons are large, yellow-orange and sweet with a mango-like texture.  Each hyakume persimmon has been treated with a few drops of vodka to cause a chemical reaction in the persimmon that changes the astringency (tannic acid) to sweetness (fructose).  Hyakume persimmons are a "pollination-variant non-astringent" type of persimmon that are naturally sweet when pollinated, though not all of the fruits get pollinated.  For more details on this, see the post "How to Eat a Persimmon".

If you'd like to order hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon), it's important to get your order in as soon as possible.  It looks like this year's supply will be smaller than last year's,  so at some point we'll have to stop taking new orders.  If you want to order hoshigaki through mail order, please mail in the order form soon.  If you'd like to order hoshigaki to pick up at the fruit stand, please call us as soon as you can.  

The Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers club will make a delivery at our orchard on Friday, Nov. 18th.  Through the Meat Buyers club you can order local and naturally produced beef, pork, lamb, chicken, eggs and honey online, then pick up your order at our orchard, at Community Ink in Truckee, or at Confluence Kitchen in Auburn.  Orders need to be received by Friday, Nov. 11th at 5:00 PM. 

Here's what's at the fruit stand now:

• Persimmons--Fuyu, Maru, Hyakume, Hachiya
• Apples--Fuji, Mutsu, Golden Delicious
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• Pomegranate--white variety
• Winter Squash--butternut, kabocha (various types), red kuri, buttercup, spaghetti squash, pie pumpkin
• Pumpkins & Gourds (at the fruit stand and at the pumpkin patch)  
• Vegetables--tomatoes, peppers, oregano, mint
• Local Honey--from bees at our orchard & star thistle honey from Lincoln
• Eggs
• Placer County Real Food Cookbook--by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenny
• 2012 Master Gardeners Calender

Community Events

This Sunday, Oct. 23rd, there's a  Farm-to-Table Dinner at the local Lone Buffalo Vineyards featuring local seasonal foods, including produce from our orchard.  There will be vineyard tours, and a six course dinner put on by Source Global Tapas restaurant.  Click here for more information and to register.

The weekend of Nov. 11th and 12th will be busy for us, because we'll be demonstrating hoshigaki (Japanese traditional hand-dried persimmon) at two different locations.  On Saturday, Nov. 11th from 10-2 we'll be talking about persimmons and how to make hoshigaki at Bushnell Garden supply in Granite Bay. This is a drop-in event with no need to register ahead.

On Sunday, Nov. 12th from 10-3 we'll be at Twin Peaks Orchard in New Castle for their Fall Harvest Open House.  Twin Peaks is an orchard that started about the same time as ours in 1911 and our families have known each other since then.  Twin Peaks grows grows a lot of the same fruits we do, including persimmons.  Their specialty is amagaki persimmons, which are hyakume persimmon treated so that they're sweet when still firm.  We'll be there to demonstrate hoshigaki.  For more information, see the Twin Peaks website.

Apples & Pumpkins

We have lots of varieties of apples right now, including Fuji, Crispin, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Northern Spy.  We also picked lots of winter squash and pumpkins. There are some pumpkins already picked and at the fruit stand and a pumpkin patch where people can go out to and pick their own pumpkin. Peas and Harmony has some organic winter vegetable seedlings for sale at the orchard, too.  There are broccoli, beets, Swiss chard, lettuce, mizuna, mustard, onions, thyme and other seedlings ready to be planted now into winter gardens. 

Persimmons are not quite ready yet, only a few maru have been picked so far. People say that cold weather ripens persimmons, so maybe this week's cooler temperatures will speed up the ripening.  We're expecting the first rain since June during the week this week, too.  It's a bit early for rain but the weather's been unusual this year. 


The next delivery from the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club will be at our orchard from 3:30- 5:00 on Friday, Oct. 21st.  Orders need to be received online by Friday, Oct. 14th at 5:00.  Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club you can order local naturally grown pork and lamb, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, eggs and honey.  The Placer County Real Food Cookbook can be ordered and delivered through the Meat Buyers Club, too.  Monthly deliveries are at our orchard in Granite Bay, at Community Ink in Truckee and at Confluence Kitchen in Auburn.

Here's what's at the fruit stand now:

• Pumpkins (at the fruit stand and at the pumpkin patch)
• Apples--Fuji, Crispin (Mutsu), Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Northern Spy
• Asian Pear--Shinko, New Century, 20th Century, Olympic
• Plums--Angelina
• European Pear--Comice
• Figs--Black Mission
  
• Quince
• Jujube
• Vegetables--tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash,eggplant, long beans, peppers, basil, oregano, mint
• Winter Squash--butternut, kabocha (various types), red kuri, buttercup, spaghetti squash, pie pumpkins
  
• Organic Winter Vegetable Seedlings
• Local Honey--from bees at our orchard, star thistle honey from Lincoln
• Eggs