New Trees & the Meat Buyers Club

In the photo above you can see young trees heeled into the soil that are waiting to be planted in the orchard.  We have about 70 fruit trees of various kinds to plant, so we've been looking for spots for them and digging holes for them in the orchard.  Our orchard is very mixed, with different types and varieties of fruit trees all interplanted.  It's this way because over the years we've been replacing individual dying trees rather than pulling out large blocks of trees and starting with new ones of all the same type and size.

Out in the orchard right now, the pluot and apricot trees are in bloom and most of the peach and plum trees are full of blossoms about to pop.  This week we're supposed to wind and rainy weather, so after that orchard should be mostly in bloom and beautiful to visit. 
 
The next delivery date for the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club is Friday, Feb. 25th from 3:30-5:00.  Through the Meat Buyers Club you can order locally raised, hormone-free meat and eggs online, then pick it up your order at the orchard.  There are other delivery sites in Placer County, too, if the orchard isn't convenient.  To order for the Feb. 25th delivery,  your order must be sent in before 5:00 PM on Monday, February 21st.

Hoshigaki & other fruit at Fruit Stand

This past weekend, Chris took down the very last two pair of hoshigaki that were drying and got them ready to pack.  We've been dealing with the process of drying persimmons since we started peeling the first ones for hoshigaki at the beginning of October, and only now just finished with the last few.  We still have hoshigaki available to order through mail order, and for sale at the fruit stand. 

The newest fruits in season and for sale at the fruit stand are blood oranges and grapefruit.  Other fruits we have are navel oranges, Eureka and Meyer Lemons, Satsuma mandarins and kiwi.  We expect that we'll be out of honey until at least April.  April is  the earliest time honey may be able to be harvested from the bees again, since they're not producing any extra right now in the cold weather.  The chickens have been laying eggs though, so we have eggs at the fruit stand.