Gratefulness. I think I write this almost every year in some way. Truth is gratefulness is something we’ve found we’ve incorporated into daily living a long time ago. When you are a farmer or an orchardist or a grower, you learn pretty quickly you’re at the mercy of the weather. Doubly so when you also depend on good weather to sell your product.
We are grateful every year. As we end 2018, and our 25thfall season at the orchard, its’ time to think about the blessings of the year.
Despite a late spring and a growing season that was behind three weeks in mid-May, we launched our pick-your-own strawberry season right on schedule in mid-June. We had a beautiful crop and the berries seemed remarkably flavorful. The warm heat pushed things a long and we had a shorter than average season.
Our 25th Anniversary Fall season got off to a strong start Labor Day Weekend. Our inaugural crop of First Kiss™ was met with rave reviews and we look forward to a bigger harvest next year.
The 2ndAnnual Vendor Fair and Anniversary Weekend was a great success despite temperatures worthy of a hot summer day. In 2019 it is our plan to do it all again, perhaps with more music and a larger venue.
We added more music to nearly all of our peak weekends. We had a strong finish with the Twelve Days of Halloween, specials or special activities every day for the last twelve days of October. Our final Christmas sale was a huge success as folks enjoyed discounts on apples, found unique Christmas and hostess gifts and generally helped clean the shelves.
Our apple crop was robust and we had SweeTango™ and Honeycrisp throughout the season along with many of your other favorite apple varieties. Our bakery was busy and our caramel apples remain as popular as ever.
Of course, there were disappointments along the way. Unseasonably cold weather in October, snow on a Sunday, tried our spirit. Yet we all know it could be worse.
So, we do remain grateful. We have been blessed in so many ways over the years. We love the customers who have been with us since the beginning and come back year after year. We love on our closing weekend to meet first time customers and we hope it’s the start of a new relationship.
Thank you – everyone for another year!
Jim, Judy & Sam
