Staff Member Accomplishments!

3 of our summer staff at Chiles Peach Orchard graduated from Western Albemarle High School tonight! Courtlyn and Lizzy are pictured, and Leah escaped before I could get her picture. Congrats and Best Wishes to Courtlyn, Lizzy, and Leah! Coincidentally, all 3 will be attending VCU in Richmond begining in August. Be sure to congratulate them next time you're in the market!

The peaches are growing!

We're anxiously watching the peaches grow here at Chiles Peach Orchard! Our crews have been through the orchard, thinning the smaller peaches off the trees, so that those that are left can grow to a good size (did you know that peach growers generally have to thin off about 85%-90% of the growing peaches?). We should have some early peaches ready to harvest in about 3 weeks. The peaches pictured here need a little more time than that!

Strawberry picking is still happening - the berries are GREAT this week! Time is ticking away on strawberry season, so hurry out to get yours soon!

Memorial Day Weekend

The sun has finally come out, and the strawberries are ripening. While we have fewer strawberries this year than in year's past (due to the cool, wet spring), the berries we have are beautiful. The weather should be nice this weekend, so we hope you will come to visit! You can buy pre-picked strawberries, our ice cream parlor is open (homemade strawberry milkshakes - Mmmmmm!), we have fresh baked berry pies, apple pies, and homemade fudge! We'll offer pick-your-own strawberries as long as there are berries to pick

Don't forget the strawberry donuts! . Hope to see you this weekend!

Celebrating Girl Scouts

On Saturday we hosted over 110 girl scouts from the Virginia Skyline Council, along with their leaders, parents, and siblings, for an educational and fun day! The girls spent almost 2 hours at different learning stations - they studied and learned the history of our orchard, the different jobs that are necessary at our farm, how important honeybees are to local agriculture, and the life-cycle of the strawberry plant. After their educational time, the girls rode a tractor-pulled wagon to the strawberry patch to pick a pint of strawberries to take home. Each girl scout filled in a questionnaire, showing off what they had learned, and received a patch for participating in the day!

We were fortunate that the rain held off! Everyone loved the day, and we are already making plans for a bigger and better event next year!

Sunshine and Strawberries

Finally, we saw the sun today for an extended period of time! We are so grateful for the rain over the past few days - but the strawberries are ready for sun! The crop is coming along nicely and there are plenty to be picked now! Come on out this weekend! Oh, yeah, we are making strawberry donuts too! Yes, strawberry donuts - this delicious treat is not to be missed. See you soon!

Our 2009 Season is almost here!

We've been busy at Chiles Peach Orchard, getting ready for a new season! The strawberries are ripening - there will be a few for picking this weekend; there will be a more abundant supply next week. We are just beginning!

We've been cleaning, decorating, and stocking the market at Chiles Peach Orchard. We are hoping you will enjoy and appreciate our new inventory. Be sure to check out our new line of scented candles (they smell DELICIOUS!), some re-usable shopping bags (great for picking peaches, taking to the grocery store, picking apples, etc!), and some fun wine accessories! We can't wait for you to see them!

Our new season begins this Friday, May 1st. Our hours will be Monday-Saturday 9-6, and Sundays from 10-5. Can't wait to see you!

Beautiful Weekend!

Hope the weather was as gorgeous in your neck of the woods this past weekend as it was here. Blue, blue, blue skies, temps in the 70's and 80's, just fantastic! We uncovered the strawberry plants last week so that they could enjoy the warm temperatures and sunshire. They've started blooming, so we should have the first berries ripe in about a month. It's almost here!

The peach blossoms are at their peak, and I've attached a few more photos for your enjoyment.

The weather is changing dramatically beginning tonight, and we have several nights of below freezing temperatures to contend with this week. Today we are covering the strawberries back up to protect that tender vegetation. This is a very labor-instensive job. It takes 6 men almost a full day to get our 2 acres of berries covered. We use rock to hold the covers down, so all that stone must be put back in place (we just uncovered them less than a week ago) and the covers securely fastened in order to protect the plants. The peach trees are very vulnerable to this upcoming cold as well - the blossoms are wide open, so the tiny fruit inside is very exposed.

Today we are also calibrating more thermometers to use in the orchard, and gassing up the wind machines for use.

I'll update you more over the next few days. We'll be out at night and early mornings to do what we can - we'll see what Mother Nature has in mind.