Kittitas County Mountain and Valley View Property Available

Here is the ideal location for those who dream of settling down on view acreage in a northwest farming community. Nearby recreational opportunities abound for outdoor enthusiasts interested in fishing, birdwatching, hiking, backpacking, skiing, horseback riding with many trails and even schooling facilities available for the serious equestrian. Rural acreage near Ellensburg, in central Washington, is a natural choice for those who are looking for both a simpler, quieter existence and a hearty outdoor, active life in an area of picturesque beauty. (Click for more detailed owner sale real estate information)

Growing Your Own Fruit At Home

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple. No one can count the apples in a seed.
-Source Unknown

Orcharding isn't always done on a large commercial scale. If you are interested in raising fruit of your own, the Cooperative Extension Agency is a good source of information on the planting and care of home orchards. There are many orchard management factors to consider when starting the home orchard. These include: soil type, drainage (air and water), tillage, fruit tree variety selection, irrigation methods and water availability, pruning, pollinating, frost protecting, fruit thinning, spraying or alternative methods of controlling plant disease and insect damage, packing, storage, and marketing or preserving. After all that, if you are not too exhausted by just the thought of growing your own fruit at home, good for you!

A practical place to start is by reading about Historical Orchard Practices and Principles related to Pacific Northwest Horticulture, or follow-up with this link to Kittitas Valley Climate and Weather, or this one which presents How to Preserve Fruit using Dehydration Techniques!

Predicting Bloom Time

Bloom time in the Orchard near Ellensburg, Washington
Looking down the tree rows for a view of the Wenatchee Mountains

Bloom times change from year to year. In the Kittitas Valley, pear trees always bloom earlier than apple trees. Sometimes pollinator limbs and trees burst into bloom before the orchard crop tree buds have opened. Unless a fruit tree is self-pollinating, you really want to be sure that the pollinating varieties bloom simultaneously with the producing tree to get the best possible crop.

Predicting bloom times can sometimes be more art than science. In early spring, at Eberhart Orchards, the trees are watched very closely for signs of change. A sudden shift in the weather patterns, a few days of unseasonably warm weather can bring trees into bloom very quickly.

Predicting bloom time is also a problem for the National Park Service each year. The Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. is scheduled so far in advance of the actual flowering of the trees, that a great deal of time and effort is spent in order to be as sure as possible, that the festival will run while the trees are in peak bloom. For the mathematically inclined, the National Park Service has prepared a formula which is the basis upon which the year's cherry blossom festival prediction is made.

Pear blossoms in the spring sunshine

The Superior Fruit of Kittitas Valley, Washington

Red apples load this tree near to harvest time

An advantage to the hillside orchards is the natural protection from early spring frost. Airflow down the slopes prevents pooling of cold air pockets that would damage buds and newly formed fruit. Spring typically comes earlier to Kittitas's southern neighbor, the Yakima Valley.

As orchards were beginning to be developed in central Washington's new horticultural districts, it soon became clear that Yakima Valley orchards were more susceptible to frost damage than were orchards in some other areas.  On April 12, 1911 The Evening Record (a local Ellensburg, Washington, newspaper) reported "Frost Does Big Damage in Yakima". However on April 17, the headline read "Fruit Trees In Valley Undamaged (except on lower levels)." September 12, 1911 "Kittitas Apple Is The Best Says Senator Jones".

Warm summer days mean good size and color in Eberhart Orchard fruit.

A lot has changed since the 1920's but the fruit grown on the southern slopes of the Manastash Ridge in Kittitas Valley and in the vicinity of Badger Pocket, is noted to be sweet, crisp keepers of the highest quality.

Pears in bins ready for the trip to a modern storage and packing facility.	Historic photographs of the Larson's fruit harvest during the 1930's. Fruit was packed and hauled on horse drawn wagons.
	Ross Larson moves bins at Larson Fruit Company's warehouse in Selah, Washington (Yakima Herald photo). Larson Fruit Company packing line (Yakima Herald photo).

Larson Fruit Company uses a water flume system to gently carry fruit through the hand and electronic sorting processes. The fruit we ship to you by United Parcel Service or U.S. Post, is Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) inspected and approved of gift grade quality. It includes nothing less than Washington Extra Fancy Apples and U.S. No. 1 Pears. Fruit is carefully wrapped and packed to arrive safe and sound, protected by a double layered cardboard box, which surrounds cardboard or polystyrene foam trays specially made to conform to the size of the fruit. Trays and cardboard shipping boxes are recyclable.

Historic Views and Scenes of Fruit Packing

Interior unidentified apple packing plant, Wenatchee, Washington (1954)

Another view of apple packing plant, Wenatchee, Washington (1954)

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