Happy New Year!

The fruit stand will be closed Mon., Dec. 31st and Tues., Jan. 1st for New Year's Day.  We'll open again on Wed., Jan. 2nd , with regular hours.  We remain open through out the winter and spring, from 9-6 Tuesday through Saturday, and 10-5 on Sunday.  Mondays we are closed.

In the photo are some of the last gymbo persimmons ripening on a tree.  In the background is a blossoming loquat tree, which will bear some of the orchard's first fruit next year in the late Spring.  

Hoshigaki, Fruit Stand & Gifts

Hachiya persimmon in the orchard

Hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) is still available through mail order and at our fruit stand.  If you'd like to pick up more than a pound of hoshigaki at the fruit stand, it's a good idea to call ahead and let us know.

Although the recently wet weather has ended the peeling of new persimmons, we're still busy taking care of the many sticks of drying persimmons that are in the process of becoming hoshigaki.  We have drying rooms full of persimmons in varying stages of drying that need to be periodically massaged and checked on. We've also been packing finished hoshigaki into bags and gift boxes to send out through mail order and for sale at the fruit stand. 

At our fruit stand we still have many varieties of fresh persimmons, including firm fuyu and soft hachiya that many people use for baking.  We're selling firm fuyu by the pound or in 15-pound bags.  Other persimmon varieties are maru (chocolate), nagamaru, and vodka-treated hyakume.  Mandarins are now in season and available at the fruit stand, too.  Granny Smith apples, white pomegranate, Asian pear, green tomatoes and winter squash are also at the fruit stand.  For winter squash we have lots of butternut squash, a few different varieties of kabocha and pie pumpkins.

Hoshigaki is often given as a gift for Christmas or New Year's.  We have other items that can be used as gifts as well.  We have two persimmon cookbooks, Perfectly Persimmon by Jeanne Brine, and a persimmon cook book put out by the UC Davis Extension service.  We also have Joanne Neft's and Laura Kenny's The Art of Real Food cookbook.  At the fruit stand you can also buy the 2013 Master Gardener's calendar, handmade 100% beeswax candles made with beeswax from our orchard, and locally made jam from Orchard Delights. 

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.