Days 396 - 416 The Pear

In the middle of the summer provides quite the bounty. We harvested 14 varieties of produce in the past 3 weeks with some days having 6+ varieties within a single day. Gotta love the bounty!!

This post has to be about the pear though... with a harvest of 163 pears in the past 3 weeks we have been gorging on the silky smooth Bartlet Pear that comes from the oldest tree on our property. This gnarly old tree was looking so bad when we moved here that I almost took it out to plant something else. I gave it a chance, pruned it well and after learning the hard way about fire-blight (almost taking out the tree again), it is one of our most productive trees that we have. I have since planted an Asian Pear nearby and we reaped our first harvest of those this year. They are a favorite of my wife and son. I personally prefer the Bartlet.

Something the you do want to know about harvesting pears though is that you do not wait until they look like they are "ripe" on the tree. If you do that, you will be disappointed with a bunch of mushy, rotten fruit that you will have to toss. What you do want to do is wait until it is about the "right time" which you learn about soon enough (or you can refer to the Dave Wilson Nursery fruit harvest chart to get a rough idea) and then start "testing" them. If you bend the fruit up a bit and it "snaps" off of the tree, then it is ready to pick. If it does not let go, then leave it be for a little while longer and try some others. If no fruit seen to snap off then wait a week longer. After you pick them, let them sit on your counter and as they start turning yellow, they will be ready to eat. I like them with a little green still showing but if you leave then go all the way yellow, you will need a napkin to catch all of the juice that runs off of your chin!!

Did break another milestone, blowing through 400 days of harvesting!! i think we are good at least until February now with a decent citrus harvest coming.

A three-week summary if you do not want to read the details:
Lemons: 3 ($1.50)
Kale: 5 bunches ($10.00)
Raspberries: 2 1/2 baskets ($5.00)
Strawberries: 1/2 basket ($1.00)
Blueberries: 3 baskets ($6.00)
Peaches: 28 ($30.00)
Cherry Tomatoes: 7 baskets ($14.00)
Zuchinni: 19 ($18.00)
Cucumbers: 47 ($30.00)
Pickling Cucumbers: 3 lb ($6.00)
Tomatoes: 10 ($10.50)
Pears: 163 ($100.00)
Grapes: 3 3/4 lbs ($7.50)
Asian Pear: 12 ($6.00)


Year 2, Day 31
1) 1/2 basket strawberies
2) 7 pears
3) 1/2 grapes
4) 2 bunches kale

Year 2, Day 32
1) 1 tomato
2) 8 pears
3) 3 cukes
4) 2 zukes
5) 1 basket blueberries
6) 3/4 basket cherry tomatoes

Year 2, Day 33
1) 8 pears

Year 2, Day 34
1) gone

Year 2, Day 35
1) 5 pears
2) 3 tomatoes
3) 5 cukes
4) 5 zukes
5) 6 peaches

Year 2, Day 36
1) 3 peaches
2) 1 asian pear
3) 9 pears

Year 2, Day 37
1) 4 asian pears
2) 2 lb pickling cukes
3) 6 cukes
4) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
5) 1 zuke
6) 1 peach

Year 2, Day 38
1) 2 cukes
2) 1 asian pear

Year 2, Day 39
1) 1 lb pickling cukes
2) 2 cukes
3) 10 pears
4) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
5) 1 tomato
6) 4 peaches
7) 2 lemons
8) 2 asian pears

Year 2, Day 40
1) 1 bunch kale
2) 3 zukes
3) 5 peaches
4) 1 asian pear
5) 6 oz grapes

Year 2, Day 41
1) 22 pears
2) 7 cukes

Year 2, Day 42
1) 1 tomato
2) 2 baskets blueberries
3) 1 asian pear
4) 1 lemon
5) 2 peaches

Year 2, Day 43
1) 2 cukes
2) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
3) 2 zukes
4) 1 young acorn squash
5) 1 asian pear
6) 10 oz grapes
7) 1/2 basket raspberries

Year 2, Day 44
1) 6 peaches
2) 16 pears
3) 1/4 lb grapes
4) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
5) 1 asian pear

Year 2, Day 45
1) 9 cukes
2) 1 basket raspberries
3) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
4) 1/2 lb grapes

Year 2, Day 46
1) 10 pears
2) 1/2 basket cherry tomatoes
3) 1 peach

Year 2, Day 47
1) 10 oz grapes
2) 16 pears
3) 1 zuke
4) 4 cukes

Year 2, Day 48
1) 2 oz grapes
2) 12 pears
3) 1 bunches kale
4) 1 basket raspberries

Year 2, Day 49
1) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
2) 3/4 lb grapes
3) 13 pears

Year 2, Day 50
1) 2 tomatoes
2) 1/4 lb grapes
3) 12 pears
4) 3 zukes
5) 9 cukes

Year 2, Day 51
1) 1/2 lb grapes
2) 15 pears
3) 2 tomatoes

Three-Week harvest: $245.50

Total Produce Harvested : $1922.25
Total Honey Harvested: $360.00
Expenses: $230.00