Robins Fresh and Fruity

How about Jelly I am a fan of jelly toast.  Mainly grape, strawberry, and apple.  Apple being my favorite.  What's yours? There any many types, but for OLO, there is Peach.  Unfortunately, as notified on the OLO official Facebook site  Our Little Orchard , it has been posted that the first-fruits did not survive the local weather.  Check out the website for more details. Even with the crop, it is still interesting how to make jelly.  The peaches typically used from OLO are, in fact, are there own category - jellies.  They have flaws but are still usable and would sell at a lower cost.  Also, they mostly need to be used sooner rather than later. This is an informative video, check it out In addition to jelly, you can make jam, however, not everyone is a jam fan. Check this out:

So after the apple is picked, before it is purchased, turned into cider or eaten, what happens? This is one of the helpful folks showing off a BIG ugly We (Chris) pick the apples into crates, and those crates are taken to the sorting building, where they will be sorted by type, size, and quality.  Take a look at the Queen of OLO and up and coming Princess.   That machine is our brushing and size sorter.  Apples have a luster that the brushes bring out.  The apple then goes to a set of chains that sort by size, small and average.  Smalls will go into cider.  The averages are then graded for first, seconds, ciders, and in some cases, deer apples.  The first quality is well sized with few marks or bruises.  A second is an apple that has some blemishes, but still lots of good meat.  These are great if your planning to make pies or pie filling, to sauce, or make wine.  Those of us at OLO are not as fast as the fellow in this video. But it is ...

So what is next? CIDER is a special drink and is best, in my opinion, from Our Little Orchard. The cider made by OLO is an all-natural drink.  It is not pasteurized like the cider purchased at your local grocery store. The mixture is 100% OLO apples. The type of apples depends on the season, early, mid or late.  As a result the flavor changes with each pressing.  Cider season begins as soon as a sufficient supply of apples is gathered. It a wonderful part of Fall The above is a brief 3.5 video on how cider is pressed. Very similar to what is done at OLO. However, there is only one cider master and he is Mr. Chris Pyle                                           

Hi! This is Peggy, aka Orchard Lady, Apple Lady, Peach Lady, etc. As part of the growing season each year, it is important to do frequent walk-throughs in the orchard. In the course of a walk through, the trees can be monitored for many variables such as insects, diseases, weeds, vermin damage and of course, what fruit is growing. These walk-throughs help to determine what needs to be done for optimum production and tree health. Spring temperatures during blossom time are especially critical. This is when the buds, blossoms and baby fruits are especially tender and vulnerable to very cold temperatures. In a study done by Michigan State University Extension, Van Buren (www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/crittemp.htm), a comprehensive list, with pictures can be found . Without getting too technical, most tree fruit buds and blossoms can tolerate 30 degrees for about half an hour before damage sets in. At 28 degrees for over half an hour, a 10% kill can be expected and around 25 degrees, a 90% or ...

Over the last several months I've learned a lot about OLO (Our little Orchard) and I must say when the weather turns warmer I'll be making a visit to the place I've read so much about! I will be ready to enjoy some "fresh and fruity"!

What is a Local Working Orchard? A local Central PA Orchard is mostly made up of family members. In the case of Our Little Orchard, I'd have to say my brother-in-law is the lead, the backbone, the dreamer.   My sister is the brain, the organizers, the people person.                   The area of the orchard is, in fact, family land.  The trees were planted by Chris, and in most cases, I believe he is the biggest picker.  Not a small job on its own.  I know that because I tried to help. Worked well till I fell out of a tree (oops).  Not an easy or fun job... A local orchard, like a local farm, never stops working.  They may have points where there are no customers, but there are a million things to do.  It is a sun up to sun down business that you never get to go home from. On the off-seasons, like now, there is the cleaning of winters rot, pruning or not pruning depending on th...

Late Fall Season Apples. Saving the Best for Last Late fall apples have the extra honor of being blushed by the evening chill.  I learned from my sister that the cold night air makes the apple red.  Who doesn't like a red apple? The cameo is a realitvly new apple for OLO (Our Litte Orchard).  It is fresh with a lovely fragrance. Eve's Delights or the Big Uglies, as I have come to know them, are an exciting variety. An excellent web site for these is  beautiful-ugly-apples . A Jonagold is a cross between a Jonathan and a Gold (an or Yellow) Delicious,  On of my all-time favorite late apples.     Jonagold_Apples Jonareds are a combination of Jonatha's and Red Delicious.  These apples are used a lot for apple sauce since their skin is so red. A big seller each year is the Spy.  For some of our customers, it is the only apple they'll use for their baking.  

PEARS The pear is a great fruit, but it does need to be picked before it ripens.  When they ripen they become ripe fast, which causes them to bruise very easily.  There are a wide variety of pears grown in the USA Green and Red Anjou, Green and Red Bartlet's, Bosc, Comic, Concord, Forelle, Seckel, Starkrimson.  Pears are great for your health, check out this site  Dietary Guidelines for Americans  for some interesting details. Our Little Orchard currently grows Red and Green Bartlet's, which are very popular with our customers                              There are many ways to use pears, fresh, canned, wine  Another great thing to do with pears is to make jam or jelly.  Also, a favorite at my house is  Pear and Pork Chop A Medium size pear has approximately 96 calories, 25.66g carbs, and 0.2g fat. Pear nectar  is a great what to enjo...

How about Mid-Season Apples Midseason apples, in my opinion, are more versatile than the earlier varieties.  They are great for applesauce, jelly, baking, and just eating. There are many  benefits  to eating apples.  Best being the flavor. Macouns are an old fashion dessert apple.  Gold or Yellow Delicious is an excellent eating apple. A Jonamac is a cross between a Jonathan and a McIntosh. The big favorite in the past has been the introduction of the Honeycrisp.  The only apple I have ever tasted that was as juicy as an orange.       Cortlands are another big favorite in central PA.  They are good eating but even better baking.  A lot of our customers use them for dumplings, and they do not go wrong. Check out this video on how to make a simple treat. 

Apples, Apples when will THERE be APPLES? It is hard to believe, but apples will be coming before we know it.  The old adage an "Apple a Day keeps the Dr. Away," is correct.  Apples are high in fiber, multi-flavored, and multi-uses.  An apple is one of the most popular self-contained fruits. However, they still need love. Early apples start around the same time as peaches, mid to late August.  Unlike peaches, the apple season for Our Little Orchard, goes till the applies run out, or the driveway is no longer passable due to snow.                            There are many types of apples.  For our blog and OLO, the early apples are as follows: The Summer Rambo is an early to mid-fall apple.  When picking applies, you still need to have a light touch to avoid bruising.  There are many things you can do with early apples.  For instance Chunky App...

Fruit needs to be washed. Even the shiniest apples should be washed unless you are 100% sure of what is on the apple. Like anything grown outside, fruits will get dirty. Some fruits are self-contained like the banana,  but some are not, so even if you plan to peel off the skin, it is a good idea to wash them first. Now I have not tried the following, but this was sent to be me via Facebook, so I wanted to share it with my followers. I am a big believer that you need to check your fruit often.  If one goes bad, they will infect the rest. It is also essential to store your fruit properly.  If an item was in a cooler when purchased, it should be stored in a refrigerator or cold storage.  However, some things seem to do better out of the cold, like banana, tomatoes, etc...  There is a lot of information online. One site I found for  strawberries  has a ton of great information.  They also have an excellent site for  bananas .  ...

Today's Fresh and Fruity Encouragement  Challenges and difficulties are part of life, and  words of encouragement can often help you get out of your rut.   For those of us with frost warnings , the challenge for tonight is to cover those plants and keep our fingers crossed for the folks looking after are orchards.  For items recently planted tonight, it will be necessary to cover them.  You can use many different types of cover, including store-bought such as Agfabric Plant Covers , available at Wal-Mart.  In my case, I use old sheets and pillowcases with large rocks to hold them down. Not pretty but very user friendly and free.                                           Good Luck To All

Central PA weather is about to change.  After what I can say was only a beautiful weekend they are saying a polar vortex is coming our way, with the possibility of snow.  We are still watching the peaches, but as you out there may know the apples and pears are also going into bloom.  According to  Channel 16 Weather , we are looking a cold nights this weekend.  So covering those plants you can be a good idea. In the meanwhile, let us look at some warming ways to use peaches.   Warm Savannah Peach Cocktails , actually has peach schnapps and not real peaches, but it still sounds yummy. Also, since the peach are a few weeks away we can have this now.

Once you have purchased the items needed, including the peaches themselves, canning peaches is a great way to keep them on hand even when the peach season has passed. T he following video gives good basic instruction. Another easy way to save your peaches is to freeze them.  In checking with Peggy she freezes 2 different ways. In her own words: "I take the skins off and the pits out. Stir some sugar in with them and freeze them. Some people like to use Fruit Fresh or another version of citric acid to keep them from browning over time. 7-Up, Sprite, or a generic counterpart also works and doesn't leave the tartness of the citric acid products. They don't seem to change the flavor of the peach." " Peach halves can be frozen with the skins on. When you need a few halves, take them out and run them under tap water...the skins slip right off. Use cool water." - - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

As you may or may not be aware, peaches are a very delicate fruit when ripened properly with a relatively short shelf life.  As such, it is most essential to make use of them as quickly as possible.  So in the post, we are going to be looking at the ways to use our friend the Peach. My all-time favorite is fresh of the tree or right after picking.  A luxury for those who stop at Our Little Orchard .  The sweetness and the juice running down your chin is a unique experience. It's also the best time to use them in recipes. Like peach cobbler . Easy no-bake peach cheesecake . A little musical break The next post will look more closely at the time frame for peaches and ways to save them for later use.