I have considered selling my extra fruit several times but after looking into it I backed off. Each year I give away fruit to my neighbors within the subdivision and a few close friends. My orchard time is where I can spend quality time and I don’t want to do anytime to change it.
3 Likes
That’s an issue for me, too. I feel like having a u-pick at my home would be like painting a target on my property in the event of societal collapse.
Ditto!
Are there any wineries or breweries within driving distance from your home? In my experience, establishments dedicated to selling local wine are more than happy to put other locally produced products on their shelves.
Another possibility is a CSA. That way, you’d be able to throw whatever’s ripe in boxes, drive to a few pickup locations, and hand them off to your subscribers once a week. Or you could even partner with existing CSAs since most of them (at least in my area) focus almost exclusively on veggies. If I operated a CSA, I’d leap at the opportunity to expand my offerings.
1 Like
You mentioned you are putting cherries in and plan to keep them at a low height. What rootstocks are you using? Also what is your target height for the trees and the training system you are planning to use?
What does CSA stand for?
I didn’t think about the wineries but i think all of our are in Eastern Washington. I don’t have any contacts there I think.
Yeah i thought about the target thing too. Even in Colorado Springs, i made my front yard look barren while the back was an oasis. Can’t really do that with this property because the septic system is in the back and lots of trees on other people’s property that blocks the sun. Full sun is on the side and in the front of the house. Thankfully the road to the new house doesn’t have an outlet so the only people driving up should be the ones who live there. There’s a small farm to the road but it’s not big enough to cause much traffic, if any at all.
CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. It’s when people buy a share of a farmer’s crops for a growing season and then pick up whatever’s ripe once a week. Payment is usually up front, so the farmer has the cash and numbers ahead of time to grow the right amount of produce, and a stable set of buyers lined up for the whole season. The farmer usually designates time and a public location at which he’ll meet CSA members to give them their weekly shares. It keeps your property and resources private and streamlines the entire sales process. There ought to already be some CSA programs in your area. if I were you, I’d look for existing ones on Google and contact them to see if they’d like a fruit source. That gives you an extra layer of separation from the public and saves you the hassle of setting up your own from scratch. There are very few fruit CSAs and none that I know of offer both fruits and veggies for the whole season. Most CSAs are just annual veggies, so I think your ability to provide fruit all season would be in high demand.
5 Likes
Thank you so much, had no idea this existed
I agree. I’ve left a large nest on the side of the house for the last several years because of this. They don’t bother the kids or anything else
2 Likes
Apparently if you’re around enough and don’t harm them, they can consider you as family until you do something suspicious or shady.
I’ll randomly feed them drumsticks or old fruit, especially during summer bbq’s. That’s the only way to keep them from asking for food then 
1 Like
see I’ve been on the fence with that. I want them to go scavenge the bugs not bug us when we’re eating outside. Just like feeding the birds. If I keep them fat n happy, will they loose interest in the fruits? idk.
I do know there are local fruit stands that buy fruit from anyone growing to sell. Large to small. That will probably be the way I go about things
1 Like
Yes, you can msg me. Best thing to do with the subsidized programs is Google them, farm to school, farm to table, etc. These would involve government subsidies. As i said before there are some private interests also. At one time i had a friend who was trying to convince me to sell apples to the local school. This was a farm to school program, good prices for me but turns out i would have had to supply same product to the entire school dist. Thats 7 schools. Schools want small apples which is good since many of us organic growers dont spend as much as we should on thinning. Also many of the greatest scab immune varieties are just naturally smallish.
So what one has to figure out is growing a progression of varieties/ripening times that are the right size and kid approved, which is just about any apple not found in the grocery store.
4 Likes
On the CSA issue, for the longest time the shares were just veggies but the last few years has been a lot of interest in CSAs adding fruit to their mix. There are so many CSAs out there now that i think some are looking for new ways to compete.
So yes, approaching these farmers to see if you can contract with them would be a good idea.
I have supplied a few such people with mixed results. Its funny, after a while of supplying a farmer sometimes they get the notion that it must be easy and anyone can grow apples. They pretty much always find out the hard way that there is a long if not steep learning curve involved. So they end up coming back.
1 Like
Okay so I remember seeing a few women only places around the US during my travels and in Asia, they’re all over. I decide to look it up and saw this on a website:
“Women-only spaces are lawful because of exceptions to the prohibitions against sex discrimination in the Equality Act.”
I guess technically it may not be discriminatory? If it were, then I believe ethnic only things such as grants or assistance may also fall into it. There’s a great home buyers assistance program where it pays for a good chunk of your home for Washington state but it sucks because when I checked into it, you had to be Hispanic or Black to qualify. I don’t want to get into it but i feel like modern day equality rights are so messed up considering that university of Washington considers me white now since they’re lumping Asians with Caucasian due to test scores. The lines are blurry but i do know that a few women’s only work spaces exist and there was recent news on it within the last 2 years because someone did try to sue but failed because there was proof that there was intent to harm by the man so it was thrown out.
Regardless, I probably won’t go this route but it is something to think about.
1 Like
I think this is all in flux right now. Due to the trans movement. What would you do if a bus load of trans Apple pickers showed up? This is not an imaginary scenario, especially around a Washington.
2 Likes
If they’re full on, I don’t think i would mind. If they’re one of those who just claim to be to get special treatment, i may have a problem. But that’s very rare and usually that’s just technically a straight man in general.
Culture wise, I’m from Thailand. We’re cool with the lady boys but America is a whole nother slice of pie when it comes to this topic.
I don’t think it matters who anyone decides to be with because it’s ultimately not anyone else’s concern. But hysterically women and gay/trans are less prone to violence just cause or violence fueled by lust in comparison to straight men. I don’t hate men or i wouldn’t be married to one, but I do feel less on guard and safer surrounded by women and even the lgbtqia+ community than i would surrounded by a group of men.
I guess my guard would come from my past and the things that have happened to me. I would rather deal with a bus full of trans than a bus full of straight men. One i wouldn’t think twice about, the other, I’d try to analyze for personal safety.
4 Likes
Yep trans don’t make me nervous at all, normal around here as you know. Maybe less down by fort Lewis lol. Anyway, literally meant there are lots of trans people here. If you posted women only I could see a group of them making a point.
Totally get where you are coming from and your intent. For clarification.
Wish you were slightly closer, or me to you. I bet we would be fruit growing friends. I enjoy your posts and way you look at growing stuff. FYI, if you want scion wood for the future orchard I would be glad to help and give you a detailed list. Peaches and hybrid stone fruit and apples are what I mostly have.
2 Likes
You could be right. There may be some sort of exception. As I alluded to, I doubt it would be an issue “naturally” (an actual customer getting mad and suing) but I also know there are people in this country who actively look for scenarios that they can sue over. It’s sad.
Those folks will be my main concern when/if I open to the public. Not necessarily a civil right suit, could be anything. Fortunately Va has liability protections for agri-tourism so farms get a bit more protection than the average business.
If you go the ladies only route and advertise publicly you might want to check with an actual attorney licensed in your state to be safe. Internet legal advice (including mine) is usually worth what you pay for it lol
Good luck!
1 Like
if a group like that wants to come down and help me clear it out and i knew about it, I’ll prepare with food and we’re gonna party. Sounds like a great business opportunity because who doesn’t like fresh fruits and food?
1 Like
Krymsk 5 rootstock with Spanish Bush training 8 feet tall. I’m in the Willamette Valley, so Giselas were out due to bac canker concerns. U pickers are rough on trees, especially cherries, so I want to go with a system that’s easily renewable. I’m worried KGB or UFO would end up completely blind after a couple years and cherries take awhile to renew. I might try some as a single leader, but I’m not experienced enough with growth hormones and scoring, so I’m nervous about getting that right.
2 Likes
From experience running a farm stand, I can tell you that fruit drives probably 75+% of our business. With sweet corn, tomatoes and pumpkins driving the rest. We sell a lot of other veggies, but if we don’t have one of those big traffic drivers, the drop off in sales is huge. As far as we know, we are the only u pick tomato place around, and if you had u pick strawberries, tomatoes and pumpkins sales, you could do a lot of business on less than 5 acres of land with minimal equipment necessary.
4 Likes
I appreciate what you said about festivals… I am 100% against the idea of my place crowded with people, especially children, and especially people who might smoke and drop cigarette butts all over, or bring dogs that terrorize my animals. Plus all the food and drink trash, parking on good soil and compacting it, breaking stuff… nope, not for me!
I am really leaning towards farm stays in an Airbnb on property, with seasonally appropriate classes in how to start a hobby or permaculture farm.
3 Likes