Happy New Year

The fruit stand will be closed on New Year's Day and the day after, (Jan. 1st and 2nd). We'll open again on Saturday, Jan. 3rd.

Above is a photo of Viviano next to the mochi-pounding mortar at the orchard.

What's at the Fruit Stand

At the fruit stand we have:

• Fresh Persimmons--Hachiya (soft and hard), gyombo (soft), Fuyu, Maru and vodka-treated Hyakume
• Kiwi--picked for the first time this week
• Apples--Koyama's Granny Smith
• Mandarins--satsuma (only a small supply left)
  
• Quince--the last of the season
  
• Vegetables--Jerusalem artichoke
  
• Gourds--for decorations and crafting
• Honey--from bees at our orchard
  

The last hard fuyu persimmons are starting to soften, so if you want hard ones, you'll need to get them soon. Some of the fuyu are still hard, but it's too late in the season for them to be crisp and crunchy anymore.

Above is a photo of kiwi fruit growing on vines at the orchard.

Hoshigaki Update

Hoshigaki (dried persimmon) is not available for sale at the fruit stand for now. We need to fill our previous mail orders and wait for the last persimmons to finish drying. At the very end of the season hoshigaki take longer to finish, and the quality is not always as good. The last persimmons peeled for drying were ripest and more likely to develop tears when drying and massaging. The weather to dry the last persimmons is less sunny and more damp and cold than Fall weather, also, so this makes drying take longer.

We expect that we'll have hoshigaki to pick up for sale in the fruit stand again in mid-January, but we may not have premium quality. If you would like to be added to a waiting list and notified when the last of this season's hoshigaki is available at the fruit stand, please call or email us. Our email is otoworchard@yahoo.com, and our phone number is (916) 791-7165.

At left is a photo of a box of hoshigaki strings and stems, snapped off from the persimmons when they're nearly finished drying. We carefully take the stems out of the loops and wash the strings to use them again for next season.

An End to New Hoshigaki Orders

Thank you for all your interest and orders our massaged dried persimmons (hoshigaki). We now have to stop accepting any new mail orders for Hoshigaki for this season. If you have already sent in an order, we do expect to be able to fill it, but we are unable to take any more new orders.

We hope to be finished sending out all the mail orders we've already received by mid-January. If you've sent in your order recently, you probably already know that orders sent to us after Dec. 4th are unlikely to arrive at their destinations by Christmas. Please email us with any questions about your order (otoworchard@yahoo.com).

Our small family orchard has only a few workers and hoshigaki really is a "Slow Food". Now with the colder and more damp weather, the persimmons now hanging on the racks are likely to take 8 weeks to complete the drying process, as compared to a minimum of 4 weeks as in October. It's not possible to speed up the process and still have nice, soft hoshigaki. We appreciate your patience.

We still have small amounts for of hoshigaki (hand-dried persimmons) for sale at the fruit stand if you're able to come to our orchard and pick it up, but we don't have enough left to take any new mail orders. It's helpful to call ahead to the fruit stand if you plan to come pick up hoshigaki so that we can have it reserved for you. Our phone number is (916) 791-1656.

In September of 2009 we'll start taking orders for next year. If you want to order next year, we recommend that you get your order in as early as possible, because we fill the earliest ones first.

The above photo is a close up of hoshigaki (massaged dried persimmon). You can see the natural sugar that comes out on the surface.

What's at the Fruit Stand

At the fruit stand you'll find:

• Hoshigaki (massaged dried persimmons)--various grades for sale at a range of prices per pound
• Fresh Persimmons--Hachiya (soft and hard), gyombo (soft), Fuyu, Maru and vodka-treated Hyakume
• Apples--Koyama's Granny Smith
• Mandarins--satsuma
  
• Quince--the last of the season
  
• Vegetables--Chiles (fish), Swiss chard, Jerusalem artichoke
  
• Gourds--for decorations and crafting
• Honey--from our orchard
  

A lot of the Fuyu persimmons are starting to soften, so if you want hard fuyu, try to get them soon.

Above is a photo of satsuma mandarins.

Lots of Jerusalem Artichokes

A few weekends ago I started digging up my garden's Jerusalem artichoke bed. It was amazing how many each plant produced. The wheel barrow in the photo at left shows what came from just two plants.

This is the first time I've tried to grow Jerusalem artichoke. I was suprised that growing it was so easy and required such little work. I remember weeding the bed just once in the Spring, and then I just watered it regularly. Each piece of tuber I planted produced a plant around 6 feet tall. The plants are in the sunflower family (they're also called sunchokes), and in the late summer they blossomed and had small yellow sunflowers. I snipped off their blossoms so that more energy could go to the roots to help them produce the Jerusalem artichoke tubers. The plants are now mostly dead and brown, so I dug up a couple of plants to harvest the tubers.

Jerusalem artichokes are native to eastern North America and are said to have been introduced to Samuel de Champlain by Native Americans in Massachusettes. Mostly they are cooked like potatoes or other root vegetables. Another interesting thing about Jerusalem artichokes is that they contain inulin, a type of starch that is considered healthier for diabetics. This weekend I hope to finish digging up the Jerusalem artichoke bed and have some ready to sell at the fruit stand.

Click here to go to about.com 's web page about Jerusalem artichoke, where you can also find links to recipes.

Cold Weather Ripens Persimmons

This past week's colder weather and fog has brought an end to peeling fresh persimmons to dry for hoshigaki. The hachiya and gyombo persimmons on the trees have all started to get too ripe and soft to be suitable for peeling. Therefore, what we already have peeled and begun to dry is all the hoshigaki that will be able to be produced for this year's season. The persimmons we recently started drying will probably take longer to dry than those we started in the warmer weather in October (8 weeks in comparison to 4 weeks).

The ripening of the persimmons also means that we must stop mailing out orders of fresh persimmons. The fruit is now too soft to ship and have arrive in good condition. We are still selling fresh persimmons at the fruit stand, but we can't take any new mail orders for fresh persimmons. Our mail order items are now limited to hoshigaki (dried persimmons) and mandarins.

Since the airing of the PBS California Gold television program featuring the orchard we have been swamped with mail orders for hoshigaki. Although it was great as publicity for hoshigaki and the orchard, it's been hard to keep up with the increase in orders.

We are sorry to say that if you order hoshigaki (dried persimmons) now, we can't guarantee that your order will be shipped out in time to arrive before Christmas.

We hope that customers who are able will come to the orchard and buy hoshigaki at the fruit stand. If you know you'll be coming to pick up hoshigaki, it's helpful if you call ahead and tell us. You can reach us at (916) 791-1656.

What's at the Fruit Stand:

• Hoshigaki (dried persimmons)--various grades for sale at a range of prices per pound
• Fresh Persimmons--Hachiya (soft and hard), Fuyu, Maru and vodka-treated Hyakume
• Apples--Koyama's Granny Smith
• Mandarins--Nodahara's satsuma
  
• Quince
• Pomegranate--Red
• Pecans
• Vegetables--Peppers (hot and sweet), Swiss chard, Jerusalem artichoke
  
• Gourds--for decorations and crafting

Above is a photo of peeled persimmons hanging to dry for hoshigaki (massage-dried persimmons) at the orchard.

Hoshigaki Mail Order and What's at the Fruit Stand

We now have lots of hoshigaki (massage-dried persimmons) for sale at the orchard's fruit stand and available for sale through mail order. If you want to make an mail order for hoshigaki or fresh fruit, please print out our order form (under the hoshigaki/persimmons tab), fill it out, and mail it to us with your check. We're still taking mail orders, but since we are very busy it may take up to a few weeks for you to receive your order.

What's at the Fruit Stand:

• Hoshigaki (dried persimmons)--various grades for sale at a range of prices per pound
• Fresh Persimmons--Hachiya (soft and hard), Fuyu, Maru and vodka-treated Hyakume
• Apples--Koyama's Granny Smith
• Mandarins--Nodahara's satsuma
  
• Quince
• Pomegranate--Red
• Walnuts & Pecans
• Vegetables--Peppers (hot and sweet), Swiss Chard, basil
• Gourds--for decorations and crafting

Peas and Harmony also has organic winter vegetable seedlings for sale at the fruit stand. They also have a demonstration garden located at the orchard, where you can see some of the plants growing.

In the photo above is Toshio showing some visiting Boy Scouts how to hang a peeled persimmon for drying.

See the orchard on PBS's "California Heartland"

This Thursday, on Thanksgiving day, our local PBS television station KVIE will show an episode of "California Heartland" featuring Otow Orchard. It will air at 4:00 PM. You can see a clip of the show on California Heartland's website, or by clicking here. The program is being shown at various times throughout California this week.

At left is a photo of kids playing in the hay maze.

What's New at the Orchard

Mail Orders--

We have started mailing out some hoshigaki orders and fresh persimmon orders. We are still taking orders for hoshigaki (massage-dried persimmons), fresh hachiya, fuyu, and mandarins. Unfortunately we have run out of maru and vodka-treated hyakume for mail orders. If you are able to come to the fruit stand you can still buy maru and hyakume, but we don't have enough left to fill any new mail orders.

What's in the Fruit Stand Now:

• Persimmons--Hachiya (firm and soft), fuyu, maru, vodka-treated hyakume, hoshigaki (massage-dried)
• Pomegranates--red variety
• Quince
• Walnuts and Pecans ( in the shell)
• Olives--cured
• Gourds---lots of different kinds for decorating and for making crafts
• Vegetables--Zucchini, Swiss Chard, Basil

As you can see, we no longer have tomatoes listed. If you come to the fruit stand we may have a few left, but almost all of them have cracks and blemishes. The same is true for zucchini, what's left is not at its best. It's time to pull out the old plants and get the gardens ready for next season soon.

The Mountain Manderin Festival happens this weekend near us in Auburn, CA. Our manderins are not yet ready, but other area growers will have theirs at the festival. It takes place at Gold country Fairgrounds in Auburn, from Nov. 21st-23rd. The festival's website is www.mountainmanderinfestival.com.

Above is a photo of a gyombo persimmon, another variety we use for making hoshigaki.

Hoshigaki is now at the Fruitstand

We are happy to say that we now have hoshigaki (dried persimmons) at the fruit stand for sale. If you were planning to pick up hoshigaki at our fruit stand, the first of this year's hoshigaki has finished. Please call ahead if you are able, and we'll have your order ready. Our phone number is (916) 791-1656. We hope to start sending out mail orders within the next two weeks.

There are a lot of soft hachiya persimmons at the fruit stand, all ready using for baking or for eating fresh. We still have hard hachiyas too, if you'd like to ripen them at home.

Here's what's at the fruitstand now:

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi (seconds)
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Quince
• Walnuts--in the shell
• Olives--cured
  
• Vegetables--zucchini, hot chiles, garlic, Swiss chard and basil
• Pumpkins
  
• Gourds--lots of different kinds for decorating and crafting

Above are photos of Elias cutting open a pomegranate, and Viviano demonstrating how to eat a pomegranate.

Persimons, Pumpkins & Gourds

We are very busy making hoshigaki and working with it in all its stages. We're still peeling and hanging new persimmons, massaging them, and moving them from room to room, according to what environment the stage they're in requires. The weather is still good for peeling and hanging new hachiya persimmons, although it has been hotter than usual for this point in the year. We've even had to block some of the drying persimmons from the sun during the hottest parts of the day.

Some of the first persimmons that were peeled at the end of September are getting sugar and are nearly at their finished state. We expect that within two weeks we'll have the first supply of hoshigaki to sell at the fruit stand and to send out in mail orders. We welcome people to visit the orchard to see how we make hoshigaki, but we only have small amounts we can sell until more of this year's hoshigaki is finished.

There is still time to visit our pumpkin patch. You can take a wagon or cart through the orchard and bring pumpkins back to the fruit stand to check out. Kids can also play on the hay bale maze. We have small colorful gourds for fall decorations and large gourds for crafting, too.

What can you find in the Fruit Stand?

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and small quantities of Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• Apples-- Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Quince
  
• Jujube
  
• Vegetables--zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles (both sweet and hot), garlic, Swiss chard and basil
• Pumpkins--in the fruit stand and in our pumpkin patch
• Gourds--lots of different kinds for decorating and crafting

Above are photos of gourds growing in one of the vegetable gardens.