I’m sitting here trying to write this summary of the 2020 peach season and I’ve having a really hard time deciding where to even start. I’m certain that 2020 will always be marked as a year that was quite chaotic and confusing for all of us, but somehow in the middle of all the crazy
With all the hail damaged peaches we’ve had this year, there has been a mountain of peaches that weren’t fit to sell, but perfect for cooking! We’ve been hard at work perfecting all sorts of peach recipes, but out of all of them one has stood out as outstanding. Peach salsa! This is a pretty
In just over 2 days, we picked and sold all of the peaches from our 130 Harvester peach trees. These trees represent approximately 20% of the entire crop we’ll get from the orchard this year, so I think it’s safe to say that Stephenville, TX likes tree ripened peaches. In the past, whenever people heard
Before we planted our first peach trees I spoke with and interviewed several veteran peach farmers. I wanted to know what they had learned the hard way. I didn’t want to make any easily avoided mistakes. The things those folks taught me have served us well, but none so much as the flat stared delivery
The trees are dormant and barren of leaves, but there is so much work that needs to be done. It probably comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that the winter months leading up to spring are a furious storm of activity. Planting, pruning, weeding, mulching, spraying, and fertilizing all come crashing down
The process of planting several hundred peaches is a little bit more involved than just stepping outside and picking up a shovel. Yeah, there’s still a shovel – but it definitely doesn’t start there. If you’re interested in how we got from start to finish so you can plant your own trees successfully, keep reading.
A funny thing happened on Sunday while we were driving home from church. The phone rang with an unknown number and Tiffany dutifully answered it. A kind voice on the other end of the line asked if they could come out and pick peaches. They explained that they were from the metroplex area and were
It was only a month ago that the peaches in the orchard were almost entirely wiped out when a hail storm swept through Stephenville. Overnight our plans went from “how we would interface with the public for the first time” to “picking up the pieces”. Damaged Branches On the hail facing side of the trees,
When we left for vacation, we had no idea of the chaos that we would find when we returned to the orchard. We had neatly planned a 2-week window where we could take a vacation before all of the peaches started coming ripe. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it through vacation. About halfway through, we got
The extensive rain we’ve had in Stephenville this year has been great, but it brings with it an unfortunate problem for peaches. Split Pits. Split pit is a defect in peaches that occurs when the fruit enlarges too quickly, thereby creating a void or hollow center inside the seed or around the seed. The result
