Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the Wilkens Family!! Our 94th harvest season has arrived, and we are already welcoming many of you to our farm - looking for that very first fruit - in our northern section of Westchester County. Our family continues to grow and we all look forward to sharing with you when you arrive this fall. Andrew has graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelors Degree in TV & Radio with a concentration in Video/Marketing and after an intense job search this past spring, he is now working for BrightLine iTV in New York City. Katrina completed her Masters in Structural Engineering at Cornell University and started working in the Marine Department for McLaren Engineering Group in West Nyack, New York - so hopefully she will be available to greet you some weekends in the fall. Kristamarie has completed her internship as a research assistant at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and moved on to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to pursue her PhD in Biokinesiology.

This growing season has been on the dry side, but that means the apples are expected to be sweeter and more flavorful for your enjoyment! We started our second harvest of Pick-Your-Own PEACHES & NECTARINES last weekend and will continue while the fruit lasts! We have 5 varieties of peaches and 2 varieties of nectarines that get ripe one after another as the season progresses plus a few Gravenstein and crunchy Gala apples as long as they last.

The apple harvest this year will begin with juicy McIntosh as well as additional varieties on shorter semi-dwarf trees- Marshall Macs, Gala and Red Cort apples. Next we will move into the crisp Cortlands and old-fashioned tart Baldwins - with a NEW ORCHARD of Empires, Macouns and Jonagolds. We will end in October with the sweet Red and Golden Delicious, tangy Jonagolds, Fujis, and the wonderful Idareds. All of these will be available by the peck (1/4 bushel) or 1/2 bushel as they ripen on Fridays and weekends in our Pick-Your-Own Orchards or any day in smaller quantities in our Farm Market. Our market is also stocked with some of our 30 other varieties of apples as they ripen during the season, along with pure Honey, Maple Syrup and a fine selection of fruit preserves, butters and spreads. Not to be forgotten, Pure Natural Apple Cider, freshly pressed in our own mill, will be available just as soon as enough apples ripen to give our cider just the right taste, flavor and fragrance combination. We never need to add any sweeteners to our cider, as Mother Nature provides just the right amount - and we're sure you'll agree.

Don't forget to stop at TRICIA'S TREATS for an apple-cider donut to taste or to pick up a FRESH-baked apple pie for dinner. Tricia's Treats also has a variety of other FRUIT pies, cookies, delicious strudel sticks, fancy brownies and peach or apple cakes (in season). Remember that you can place your apple or fruit pie order early for the holidays and schedule pick-up at your convenience!

In October we will also open our Pick-Your-Own Pumpkin Patch for your perfect Halloween Jack-O-Lanternpumpkins and our market will have the sweet "sugar" pie pumpkins.

As an early reminder, our shapely Christmas Trees, in sizes from 5 to 10 feet in height will be ready for cutting daily starting Saturday, November 27th. Plan now for your holiday outing in the beginning of December, when you can choose from our own first prize Choose-and-Cut Douglas Firs, or from our pre- cut Fraser Firs. Demand for these perfect trees is high so come early for the finest selection.

As usual, please call before coming to the Pick-Your-Own Orchards on a particular weekend to be sure the availability of the fruit you prefer. The orchards are open Friday, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 to 5PM (with the last tractor going out to the orchard at 4:30PM), and on some school holidays (9/6, 9/9, 9/10 & 10/11) while our Red Barn Farm Market, Appleseed Shop and Tricia's Treats Bake Shop are open daily from 10 to 5PM. We look forward to visiting with you very soon. Please note that for public health reasons, we are regrettably unable to welcome your dogs into our orchards or shops.