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Archive for the ‘On the Farm’ Category
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
If you are looking for a great apple, look no further! Dave grows an amazing number of apple varieties for the market. My favorite? SweeTango(R) is so flavorful, crisp, and juicy that it is hard to beat! It’s not only a great fresh apple, but also adds a special note to salads and makes wonderful apple crisp and pie. If you haven’t tried SweeTango(R) apples yet, you owe it to your taste buds to give them a try! We hope to have them for another month or so (depending upon demand).
Just visit Rennhack Orchards Market from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday (we’re open through Dec. 30) and you can try an apple that is new to you! Just inside the front doors (to your left) is a nice long shelf covered with apple varieties to sample. From old favorites like Cortland, to newer varieties like Honeycrisp(TM) and SweeTango(R), from A (Ambrosia) to Z (Zestar!), there is sure to be a variety that suits you! And remember those out-of-town friends and relatives who would love to receive a taste of Oceana County from you–we ship apples as well as gift baskets! Happy munching!
Tags: apples, free samples, fresh, Honeycrisp, SweeTango(R) apples
Posted in At the Market, Main Blog, On the Farm | No Comments »
Monday, September 26th, 2011
If you are a fan of Red Delicious (it’s hard for me to believe, but there are actually some people who claim that they like them), try a Blondee–this early golden-skinned apple has the kind of sweet flavor that a Red Delicious apple should have. Other apples to try, if Red Delicious is something you like, are Gala (very sweet and in season now), SweeTango(R) apples (lots of sugars, but also plenty of acids, for a great flavor combination), and Honeycrisp(TM) (just about the opposite of the texture of Red Delicious, with a very thin skin and a wonderfully crisp and juicy texture). Coming soon (by Thursday), Cortland is another great variety, with pure white flesh and good flavor. With so many wonderful apple varieties that can be used for fresh eating AND cooking, it is hard for me to recommend Red Delicious (which is not recommended for any kind of cooking). Expand your horizons: try a different apple this season! (And if you are one of the fans of Red Delicious, I’m sorry. Views expressed in this blog belong to my taste buds!)
Posted in At the Market, On the Farm | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
The photos on our home page show some of the August bounty of our farm in Oceana County! There is a photo of our colorful bell peppers at the market, then a peach tree which has been summer pruned to let the sun shine in to make the peaches nice and sweet! Next, we are waiting for these apples to finish ripening so we can enjoy SweeTango(R) apples again–mm-mmm! The funny-looking red veggies are ladyfinger tomatoes. They are fun for kids to eat, and are easier to slice up than grape tomatoes for salads. The last photo is of our amazing sweet corn. We should have sweet corn through Labor Day, so enjoy those meals with corn on the cob! It’s tender and easy to eat, no matter how many teeth you have! 
Posted in At the Market, Main Blog, On the Farm | No Comments »
Monday, June 20th, 2011
We (Dave & Joann Rennhack) took a farm tour on Sunday, June 19 to check out our crops. I took a camera along, so you can see, too. On the photos on our home page, our earliest sweet corn is pictured with Dave kneeling, showing that it is knee-high by Father’s Day in 2011. The next photo shows some of our light sweet cherries, with bright yellow mustard (Dave uses special seed; it’s a natural biofumigant) in the background. Can you guess what Dave is doing amongst the apple trees? He is counting apples on a young tree, to make sure the fruit load is appropriate for the size. These lush-looking apple trees will be producing SweeTango(R) apples around September 10 or so. In the next photo are some early black sweet cherries, which will be much riper and darker in a couple of weeks. The photo with the tall posts & wires shows some small, young sweet cherry trees that Dave is growing on a tall spindle system; right now they are supported by bamboo poles. The sixth photo shows some little tomatoes coming along nicely.
Tags: black sweet cherries, light sweet cherries, sweet corn, SweeTango(R) apples, tomatoes
Posted in Main Blog, On the Farm, With the Family | No Comments »
Saturday, November 13th, 2010
You may be wondering what is keeping Dave busy now that harvest is over. He is enjoying the nice open (no blizzards!) weather we’ve been having this fall. It makes it a lot easier to work in the orchards! Dave is going through some apple orchards and taking out some big branches that need removing. With his years of experience and learning, he knows just how he wants the tree to look, so it will produce high quality fruit. You can train others in the basics of pruning, but you can’t impart years of experience. That’s one advantage to the new system Dave is using now when he puts in new orchards–it’s easier to train people for pruning the trees.
One of the less-skilled (but still important) jobs that is taking place now is that our high school worker is cutting out root suckers. These look like young trees, but they are growing up from the roots. They need to be removed right at ground level, so it’s a job to finish before the snow flies.
Posted in On the Farm | No Comments »
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