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.

Peaches in Full Bloom

It's a beautiful day here in Crozet, but it was cold last night. The temperature was below freezing for several hours early this morning. The wind machines were in action again. We are hoping that they helped! It takes a few days for any damage to be evident.

Enjoy these pictures of the peach blossoms. If you are in this area, take the drive out through Crozet to see the orchards - it's a sight not to be missed!

Warm Days, Cold Nights

This time of year is always interesting for fruit growers! The warm spring days have been beautiful, and the peach trees are starting to show their glorious bloom. This is the time, however, that our crop is at is most vulnerable. When the blooms are starting to open, the tiny fruit inside is exposed. When the temps get below freezing at night, the risk exists that the fruit will be exposed to too-cold temps for too long. While mother nature is in control of this situation, there are a few things we can do to try to protect our crop. We monitor temperatures in all our orchards, especially those at lower elevations (like Chiles Peach Orchard). If the wind is blowing, it is of great help. If the air is still, we'll lend our hand to Mother Nature. Last night (actually, early this morning), we started up our wind machines.These machines move the air around, and can actually raise the temperature by 2 or 3 degrees - which often is enough to make a difference. We started the machines just before dawn (the coldest time of the night is right as the sun starts to rise) and ran them for a couple of hours.

We'll continue monitoring the temperatures for the next 4-6 weeks, until all chance of frost has passed. Keep following our blog for updates! And, if you see us around town and we look tired, you will know why! You'll see from the pictures of the peach trees that they are in different stages of bloom, depending on the variety.

PS, the strawberries have covers on them, - this is protecting them for the time being.