Apples, Pumpkins, and Pears

We are heading into a beautiful fall weekend with what looks to be some amazing weather! A great weekend to come search the orchard to enter the third and final week of the Largest Apple Contest. This weeks winner will be announced on Monday and will receive TWO FREE BUCKETS of u-pick apples. 
Pumpkins are plentiful! We have an abundance of classic carving pumpkins ready to be found in the patch.
Tomatoes are overall still doing great. The Romas are plentiful and easy to pick. The slicers are struggling with the rain we have gotten, but with some hunting can be found.
Flowers are doing well and are still available for u-pick until the first frost. We also have beautiful bouquets available at the stand Thursday - Sunday.

We have our last load of Pears at the stand. Bosc! They look amazing, so don’t miss your last chance to grab some.
This is a great time of year to come out and pick apples for storage. Our storing apples are Braeburn, Fuji, Gold Rush, Rome Beauty, Granny Smith, and Cripps Pink. Make sure to stock up while we still have them!
Since we have so many great storing apples still available for picking, we thought we would give our best advice for how to make those apples store for as long as possible.Your very first step to a long lasting apple is to TAKE IT OUT OF THE BAG! Bags have eased the picking and taking home of our apples, but we have realized you may not be aware that the bag should just be for transportation. Apples release ethylene gas, and if they are in a plastic bag, that gas will make them ripen much faster. So start by taking those apples out of those bags! Next, you want to think of a cool dark place. Root cellar is best, but for those of us without a cellar, a garage can suffice. Just make sure your apples won't be getting hit by the sunlight from a window everyday, that will make the temperature of your apples fluctuate and ripen faster. A cardboard box is great for storing. Ideally, the apples would be in a single layer. For those of us who do not have much garage space on shelves, a garage fridge will do as well. But there is a bit of moisture in a fridge so this method might last 2-3 months instead of 3-4 months.

RIPE AND READY:
Jonagold
Ruby Jon
Fuji
Rome Beauty
Braeburn
Golden Delicious
Red Delicious
Cripps Pink
Gold Rush
Grannysmith

HOURS:
Mon-Sat 8am-6pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

4925 Rockdale St NE, Brooks, OR 97305

(503)393-1077

BEILKEFAMILYFARM.COM

Largest Apple Contest Week #2 Winner

The Second week of the Largest Apple Contest has a winner! Nancy won week #2 with a Jonagold Apple weighing in at 1.34 pounds. We are amazed each week at the bigger and bigger apples you all are finding. Congratulations to Nancy, you won two free buckets of u-pick apples. We start our final week of the contest, week #3 today, so make sure to stop in at the Apple stand and have your largest apple weighed to enter week #3. The winner will receive TWO FREE BUCKETS of u-pick apples!

RIPE AND READY:
Jonagold
Ruby Jon
Liberty
Fuji
Rome Beauty
Braeburn
Golden Delicious
Red Delicious
Cripps Pink
Gold Rush
Grannysmith

HOURS:
Mon-Sat 8am-6pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

4925 Rockdale St NE, Brooks, OR 97305

(503)393-1077

Cripps Pink, Gold Rush, Grannysmith, and the Largest Apple Contest

The rain has arrived! It is finally time to dust off those rain boots and umbrellas! Head to the orchard and pick some apples to make some nice hot apple cider or a warm apple pie to enjoy on a rainy day.
We have made it to the sweet spot of the 2025 Apple Season! We have both the early sweet apples still Ripe and Ready, and all of the winter apples are popping up as well. Right now we have 12 different varieties to choose from! This week, Cripps Pink, Gold Rush, and Granny Smith were added to the list. We also have the Largest Apple Contest Week #2 happening!  Search the orchard for the Largest Apple and enter the second week of the Largest Apple Contest! Winner is announced on Monday and receives TWO FREE BUCKETS of u-pick apples.
Cripps Pink are a great sweet-tart apple that are wonderful for snacking, baking, applesauce, and storing. We did a contest a few years back and made an apple crisp out of every variety in the orchard and blind tested them. The Cripps Pink were a unanimous winner! They are better known as Pink Lady.
Gold Rush is a very fun apple. It is a tart-sweet apple with a great crunch. It is great for snacking, baking, applesauce, storing, and our very favorite choice for apple cider. This apple almost tastes like it is carbonated. If you haven't ever tried one, we highly suggest you do.
Granny Smith is your classic green apple. A tart apple that sweetens when baked and makes the most amazing pies. These are great for storing as well.
Pumpkins are doing great! We still have a plentiful supply of classic carving pumpkins and some of the decorative as well. We have had a lot of people ask if we have good pumpkins for baking. We do! We have a small section of baking specific pumpkins to choose from in the patch. We have also found that the blue and pink decorative pumpkins are wonderful for baking as well. 
Tomatoes are still in abundance and will be ready for picking until the first frost. We anticipate that to happen in 2-3 weeks, so still plenty of time to get your canning tomatoes. 
The Sunflower Maze is done for the season but we still have a selection of beautiful u-pick flowers to choose from as well as beautiful bouquets ready at the stand on weekends. The u-pick flowers will also be available until the first frost. 
For those of you who would rather not pick in the rain, we do have some pre-picked Beilke Boxes ready at the stand. One full Beilke Box is exactly one full bucket of apples and is $23. Call ahead if you have a specific variety in mind you are wanting!

RIPE AND READY:
Ruby Mac
Jonagold
Ruby Jon
Liberty
Fuji
Rome Beauty
Braeburn
Golden Delicious
Red Delicious
Cripps Pink
Gold Rush
Grannysmith

HOURS:
Mon-Sat 8am-6pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

4925 Rockdale St NE, Brooks, OR 97305

(503)393-1077

BEILKEFAMILYFARM.COM