CandyCots are getting ripe so it is time for harvest!

Each fruit is selected for ripeness and hand picked. Over a two or three week time period, about 5 picking passes will be made across the orchard. It is a lot of walking and looking and is tiring work.

The fruit is placed into "totes" which are lined with plastic film to nest each individual fruit. Each harvester has to make important decisions about ripeness and quality. Bird damaged, insect damaged, and cracked fruit is discarded in the field. As the totes are filled they are placed into a refrigerated truck for transport to the packing shed.

A tote full of fruit (and a camera) brings out the smiles!

Here the entire crew of 10 meets with their boss, the farm labor contractor. I am very pleased with this crews sustained efforts at doing a quality job.

After all the ripe fruit is picked, a day or two are spent waiting for the remaining fruit to mature. These days are spent productively with pruning. The pruning will help expose the interior wood to sunlight to promote fruitfulness next year. It also allows sunlight to penetrate the interior of the trees to hasten the ripening of the remaining fruit.

The CandyCot packing shed is busy this time of year!