Been rather distracted since last summer, sorry that I havent been around. Here is a fill in on whats been going on around these parts.
We are working hard on creating some mobile sales platforms. These will be our version of the oh so popular food truck. Ive spent the last 7 months and almost 30k on these two trucks, hopefully they prove worth it.
Eric,
Looks fantastic! Great ideas on the bakery side of the business. The trucks are great and should be worth a lot as advertisement. The high tunnel crops look great is it possible to use those for mangoes as well? Mangoes seem like big business. Maybe I’m just saying that because I like mangoes and know you grow them. How are the amadiocots?
To do mangoes or other tropicals in a structure like that would require enclosing it completely and adding a ton of heat. While this winter was mild and we barely saw a freeze, lots of winters we get down in the low teens. Mangoes are very freeze sensitive, we do grow them but use straw houses we build around them and have to keep them small. Honestly its a real pain and every time I have to put up or take down the houses I grumble and wonder how many more years im willing to do it for a few mangoes…
And no, never enough to sell. Starfruit is a different story. They produce is such quantities even when small that they are profitable to us.
Amadiocots are going to have a HUGE year. Actually all the apricots we have on property are setting in thousands. Looking to be a very good harvest of most all types and varieties of fruit we are growing. Ive got a few that im watching closely and swearing at daily that they better produce or im getting the saw and grafting equipment out. Yes you hear me Nadia and Spicezee.
I would like to hear (and see) more about this fruit. I wondered where you were! Everything looks fantastic! I love those trucks.
OK, you know you made it when St Nick comes down from the north pole in that suit all the way to AZ, just to get some pies, guess he’s sworn off cookies?
Nadia seems to be a very vigorous grower, and SpiceZee for me is a good producer. Slow to start, give them more time. I thought of removing Spicezee as it needs heat for those sugars, seems it would be ideal there. Here it is rather bland, but it is producing some very nutritious fruit, I’m keeping it, it’s not that bad! Production is so good, fairly trouble free now, but was sensitive to the cold when young. Now, it’s fine.
Starfruit is a tropical that produces in huge clumps like this. Its a true tropical and can not take any time below 32 tho. We have the 4 trees planted up against a wall and enclose the area and heat it at night all winter. They are a good fruit, not mango good but good. What id call a B level tropical. But the unique shape and complete lack of shipping ability make it a very profitable crop for us.
Mrs Claus happens to work for us.
[quote="Drew51, post:5, topic:9853"]
Nadia seems to be a very vigorous grower, and SpiceZee for me is a good producer. Slow to start, give them more time. I thought of removing Spicezee as it needs heat for those sugars, seems it would be ideal there. Here it is rather bland, but it is producing some very nutritious fruit, I'm keeping it, it's not that bad! Production is so good, fairly trouble free now, but was sensitive to the cold when young. Now, it's fine.
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We have issues with nectarine production here. Cant say why, @fruitnut theorized last year that it may have something to do with lack of humidity during bloom causing the pollen to not be sticky enough. Sounds logical enough but we had a very wet and humid period during our nectarine bloom this year and it seems to have made little difference. My fear is that Spicezee may be a shy setter here due to whatever the issue we have with nectarines. The issue with nadia may be a chill hour issue. No one really knows what they need for chill. They are having a really nice bloom right now and have plenty of pollenizers so we shall see.
Spicezee has always been a shy setter for me. This yr I’m basically not needing to thin while others need 75+% removed. Same with Nadia but it really hasn’t had a chance to show it’s stuff. I’ve seen enough to think it will set on the weak side maybe very weak.
Aww youre too kind. We are trying! This is our 5th year of selling and we are constantly adjusting. My good commercial orchardist friend is always telling me that I either need to sell or grow, not both, that doing both is a muddled mess. That may be true to a degree but its what we have to do. Its been in marketing that we have found our successes. Im trying real hard to keep it all fun and not make it into such a job that I end up dreading it.
Thanks for taking the time to post this stuff Eric. Your posts are fore sure among my favorites. I am now growing some things at a pretty large volume and I’m always interested in what you real farmers are up to. Great looking farm and excellent marketing.
Huh, that’s interesting. Last year my Spice Zee set like crazy. Broke branches in fact as I didn’t realize how big they got. Unfortunately thrip damage and bacterial spot or coryneum blight or whatever the hell ran through my trees last year ruined most of the fruit. It’s still blooming now so we will see what it does this year.
Hahahaa. Im just making the best out of my 1.5 acres. Hardly qualify as a “real farmer”, the outfit across the street that farms hundreds and hundreds of acres of cotton and alfalfa does. Never the less we sure produce alot of food out of our little piece of the earth.
Its not really modified, we just had to split it to put in the PTO that it was originally ordered without. But yep thats it! Doing our local parade was the best and cheapest advertising that we have ever done. [quote=“subdood_ky_z6b, post:16, topic:9853”]
I’m afraid I’ve never heard of an amadiocot, is that a stone fruit you developed, or just a coincidencial name?
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Its a seedling apricot that was existing here on the property when I bought it. Excellent apricot, but has almost zero storage capacity. Bursting with juice and flavor! Very low chill. [quote=“subdood_ky_z6b, post:16, topic:9853”]
Those starfruit are cool looking, what do they taste like? I saw one at Sprout’s last week, and wondered about them.
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Properly ripened they are really good. Depending on the cultivar they can taste all kinds of different ways. But overall they have a citrusy flavor. Beware of shipped in starfruit. They dont ship well and are often picked green. Green starfruit arent great. And they dont ripen more off the tree.
