FruitFromWashington.com Web Letter Archives**
[This Month's Web Letter]

FRUITFROMWASHINGTON.COM WEB-LETTER
January - February 2004
Need lots of fruit now or a steady supply throughout the year?
FruitFromWashington.com is your Online Fruit Solution Center!

FruitFromWashington.com's monthly Fruit Subscription Gift Boxes are a great gift idea for winter dieters! Contact us to find out more!

Need to Give Business Gifts?
We Specialize in Customized Corporate Gift Packages!

Order redwood or cedar outdoor furniture from our Classic Garden Catalog* such as this Smoker or Barbecue Cart made by FFW Manufacturing of Ellensburg, Washington. This Redwood Smoker Cart is specially designed to hold the large sized (21-inch) smoker unit called The Big Green Egg® (known as the "World's Best Smoker and Grill"®) or a similarly sized model such as Grill Dome or Primo™ Cooker (please call 1-877-AT-FRUIT to inquire about a custom order for any smoker model other than The Big Green Egg®). Big Green Egg® or alternate smoker unit sold separately. Smoker Cart with wheels - Regular price $460.99 (including shipping*)

Printable Order Form for Fruit From Washington Yard and Garden Furniture

We offer other solidly constructed and beautiful retro-styled pieces including Potting Tables and Planter Benches that are functional and attractive in any home setting. *Free shipping on furniture, UPS Ground to addresses in 48 contiguous states.

Read our Customer Satisfaction and Order Fulfillment policies as well as more information for business gift giving on our Corporate Gift Giving page!

List of Current Washington Grown Fruit Available from FruitFromWashington.com (check our order form for updates on availability)

Gift Box of 15 Red d'Anjou Pears Order # ra15 priced at $24.95 (+ shipping) also available Classic Wooden Gift Box of 6 Red d'Anjou Pears Order # ra006 priced at $26.95 (+ shipping)*

Gift Box of 15 Cameo® Apples Order # ca15 priced at $22.95 (+ shipping) also available Classic Wooden Gift Box of 6 Cameo® Apples
Order # ca006 priced at $26.95 (+ shipping) Available after Oct. 1*

Gift Box of 15 Fuji Apples Order # fj15 priced at $22.95 (+ shipping) also available Classic Wooden Gift Box of 6 Fuji Apples Order # fj006 priced at $26.95 (+ shipping) Available after Oct. 1*

Gift Box of 15 Gala Apples Order # gl15 priced at $22.95 (+ shipping) also available Classic Wooden Gift Box of 6 Gala Apples Order # gl006 priced at $26.95 (+ shipping)*

Gift Box of 15 Jonagold Apples
Order # jg15 priced at $22.95 (+ shipping)
Available after Oct. 1*

Gift Box of 15 Red Delicious Apples Order # rd15 priced at $22.95 (+ shipping) also available Classic Wooden Gift Box of 6 Red Delicious Apples Order # rd006 priced at $26.95 (+ shipping)*

*Availability of fruit varieties subject to change. All fruit gift box prices are shown without shipping. Shipping is calculated based on destination and shipping method selected.

How to Place An Order - Place your order for a 15-count Gift Box of fruit or order a fruit subscription by phone - call our sales desk toll-free at 1-866-448-9442 or print a copy of our fruit order form and send it by fax to 1-509-968-3655 or mail it to us at:
Fruit From Washington
PO Box 877
Ellensburg, WA 98926

Apple of the Month - We ship one of our varieties of Washington grown apples based on the pick of what's in season during harvest or what's fresh out of cold storage during the remainder of the year each month that your fruit subscription is in effect. Some of our featured apples include Jonagold, Granny Smith, Gala, and Red Delicious. Available in 3, 6 and 12 month apple subscriptions.

It's always easy to buy gift boxes of Washington grown apples from FruitFromWashington.com! - Printable Order Form for Fruit From Washington.com Fruit Gift Boxes. For all phone orders, call toll-free 1-877-AT-FRUIT.

"May all your hours
be winged with joy."
With all good wishes
for the Brightest
of New Years.

Best Wishes for Peace, Health, Happiness, Good Fortune and Good Luck in 2004 from all of us at Fruit From Washington, FFW Manufacturing and Eberhart Orchards of Ellensburg, Washington. As always, the end of the year and beginning of the new is a time of resolution. For 2004, we resolve (as much as one can resolve) to be well. We further resolve that this year, to the best of our abilities, we shall do good work. Our final resolution is to keep in touch. If you are thinking that those resolutions have a familiar ring, that may be because you hear them stated each time you listen to Garrison Keillor's sign-off tag for The Writer's Almanac®, a daily production of poetry and history produced by Minnesota Public Radio and hosted by Keillor. At the end of this daily five minute broadcast Keillor signs-off by saying, "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® " We have made these tenets the basis of our New Year's Resolutions. What do you resolve? Over there, let's start with you.... - C.E., 12/16/03

"Try never to injure another by word, by act, or by look even," he wrote in his second year at the Academy. "Forgive as soon as you are injured, and forget as soon as you forgive." On the following New Year's Day, Johnson Whittaker resolved and wrote in his Bible, "Never to commit an act at which my kind mother would have to blush; to do right at all times, under whatever circumstances and at whatever cost."
- Resolutions written by Johnson Chestnut Whittaker (during the period of 1876-1878?) in the front of his Bible as noted in the July 24, 1995 Remarks by President Clinton at the Johnson Chestnut Whittaker Posthumous Commissioning.

I am quite certain that Grandpa Dee believes in luck. He carried a $2 bill without corners for luck during the war and made it as a combat infantryman, physically unscathed. If you have to ask which war was that anyway? In Grandpa Dee's own words, "There was only one war. It was in fact the Great War which began in August 1914 and ended in August 1945, with an armistice for rearmament and force realignment interrupting the total hostilities of phase I, World War I and phase 2. World War II." It was that number two phase of the Great War when he carried the lucky $2 bill.

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Grandma Barbara has a sentimental streak. She keeps a charm bracelet from her own childhood that her children were allowed to play with on occasion when they were very young. When granddaughter Aliza turned nine on her last birthday, she got a charm bracelet from Grandma. According to tradition, it is usual for a "doting relative" to give a young girl a gift of a bracelet to which charms would be added at later dates such as holidays, birthdays or anniversaries. Some of these lucky charm symbols are depicted in this French postcard graphic - "Le Langage de Porte Bonheur" translated as "The Language of Good Luck Charms".

More FruitFromWashington.com Q & A — Question: When are Fuji Apples in season?

Reply: We expect that the current crop of Washington State Fuji Apples that came off the trees in mid-October will remain available for the better part of the year. Fuji Apples store well and this year's crop was very good in terms of quantity and quality. See our harvest availability chart for more information. Kindest regards, C.E.

Question: I just want to ask for info regarding availability of Hosui pear trees for sale. I live in West Virginia. Thank you very much.

Reply: We suggest that you contact Raintree Nursery of Morton, Washington. Here is a link to the page on Asian Pear varieties in their online catalog. They supply fruit trees mail order and we have always had good luck with the quality of their trees and their guarantee and replacement policy. One of our sisters lives in Virginia and she has ordered from them in the past without trouble. Their 2004 catalog has just come out and they list a wide variety of Asian Pears including Hamese, Shinsui, Shinseiki, Mishirasu, Atago, Yongi, Yoinashi, Korean Giant, Tsu Li, Ichiban and Kosui. You asked about Hosui which I do not see on their list but I suggest that you contact them as they may have some varieties available that are not listed. Best of luck, C.E. (12/13/03)

Question: Do you have any information on what has happened to Pinnacle Orchards in Medford. We have mail ordered pears for decades, and suddenly we cannot find the company! The Medford Chamber of Commerce claims they have never heard of them? Any ideas? Thanks J.M.

Reply: Yes, there was a Pinnacle Packing Company of Medford, Oregon. The Medford Historical Society probably would be aware of that fact even if their Chamber of Commerce is not. We do not know when or why it went out of business. The only sign of it having existed, that we can find today, are literally signs. The old Pinnacle Pears fruit crate labels from the 1950's and 1960's are now popular collectibles for those who enjoy paper ephemera. If you are interested in purchasing gift boxes of pears from a small family operation, we invite you to take a look at the FruitFromWashington.com pear varieties. Thank you for your very interesting question. Sincerely, C.E. (12/10/03)

Question: Do you grow Bramley seedling?

Reply: No, we do not grow Bramley seedling apples. However, we can refer you to a Skagit Valley, Washington, Fruit Company that does. Please see: skagitvalleyfruit.com's apples page. Hope this helps! Best regards, C.E. (12/3/03)

Question: I am a dude farmer and I need some hay for my horse and my rabbit. I am looking for a bale of hay that is 130 lbs and has 16 flakes of first and one baby flake of second cutting. The baby flake has to be very soft cause my rabbit has no teeth. Do you have such a bale? - J.D. (12/6/03)

Reply: Apparently there are other dude farmers in your same situation who need to feed a horse and a rabbit. Unfortunately this has created a very high demand and all of our specialty bales (as you described) have sold out for the year. By the way, we have to say that you are somewhat unique in that your rabbit is toothless. We hear that rabbit dentuary has come a long way during the past few years and hope that you will be able to get that rabbit some help very soon. In the meantime, we would be happy to send you a box of Chicklets and some Superglue. Best regards, R.E. (12/10/03)
For many more questions and answers see the FruitFromWashington.com FAQ page.

Winter Sleep by Elinor Wylie

When against earth a wooden heel
Clicks as loud as stone and steel,
When snow turns flour instead of flakes,
And frost bakes clay as fire bakes,
When the hard-bitten fields at last
Crack like iron flawed in the cast,
When the world is wicked and cross and old,
I long to be quit of the cruel cold.

Little birds like bubbles of glass
Fly to other Americas,
Birds as bright as sparkles of wine
Fly in the night to the Argentine,
Birds of azure and flame-birds go
To the tropical Gulf of Mexico:
They chase the sun, they follow the heat,
It is sweet in their bones, O sweet, sweet, sweet!
It's not with them that I'd love to be,
But under the roots of the balsam tree.

Just as the spiniest chestnut-burr
Is lined within with the finest fur,
So the stony-walled, snow-roofed house
Of every squirrel and mole and mouse
Is lined with thistledown, sea-gull's feather,
Velvet mullein-leaf, heaped together
With balsam and juniper, dry and curled, Sweeter than anything else in the world.
O what a warm and darksome nest
Where the wildest things are hidden to rest!
It's there that I'd love to lie and sleep,
Soft, soft, soft, and deep, deep, deep!

Read about the poet, Elinor Wylie.

Eastern Washington acreage for sale

Rural lot with panoramic view of Kittitas Valley and Cascade Mountains for sale by owner. Located on southern rim of the Kittitas Valley. Nearby recreational opportunities abound for outdoor enthusiasts interested in fishing, birdwatching, hiking, backpacking, skiing, horseback riding with many trails available for the serious equestrian. Rural acreage near Ellensburg, in central Washington, is a natural choice for those who desire a simpler, quieter existence and a hearty outdoor, active life in an area of picturesque beauty. (Click for more)

We'll wish to the sickly the toughest of lives,
To maidens, husbands--to bachelors, wives--
That babes may increase in strength and grace,
And bloom like flowers in their parents' face;
That the fool may grow wise ere he yet be old,
And the purse that lacks find a store of gold,
And the hand that has it a will to spend,
And the heart that loveth not, grace to mend.
We'll wish for workers of each degree
To earn and eat in prosperity;
Plenty of coals at the poor man's door,
Plenty of grain on the farmer's floor,
Plenty of fees to the learned professions,
Plenty of railways through landed possessions,
Plenty of cargoes brought home on the breeze
By the quickest of ships on the calmest of seas,
Unpacked at the docks to the merchant's content,
And sold in the market at fifty per cent.
And we wish, O dear reader, all jesting apart,
That mercy and love may grow strong in your heart,
That dearer than riches, or what they can buy,
Be the creed which shall help you to live or to die.
- From "New Year's Wishes" by Bessie Rayner Belloc (December 31, 1859). Source: Victorian Women Writers Project: an Electronic Collection Perry Willett, General Editor. Ballads and Songs by Bessie Rayner Belloc 216 p. Bell and Daldy London 1863 The transcribed copy is from the Northwestern University Library.

During the winter months, Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Dee feed a resident covey of California Quail, as well as other wild birds that winter in the area. Ross gets credit for creating the "suet log" and "hanging feeder" which is still in use even after several years. The birds love it. Grandma Barbara notes that she only uses it when the ground is covered with snow.

Simple Recipe for Log Bird Feeder Fill — Mix together peanut butter, suet and wild bird seed. Pack the holes of a log-style bird feeder with the mixture and hang the log in a high place safe from cats and other predators. Amounts of each ingredient optional. Use whatever is on hand that will make a firm consistency for stuffing the holes. "It never occurred to me to measure the ingredients — just keep adding until it feels right." - B.E. 12/28/03 (Click for more)

California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. has a Fruit Facts database online which is a wonderful resource for those looking for more information about unusual or rare types of fruiting shrubs and trees. I stumbled across this comprehensive rare fruit information source in the process of trying to find out more about what is commonly called a "Custard Apple". Well, it turns out that "Custard Apple" is the known name in the United Kingdom (and Commonwealth nations) for the Cherimoya. Okay, my life has been rooted in the northern hemisphere and I still was lost due to my agricultural ignorance of subtropical, southern hemisphere plants. The California Rare Fruit Growers database provides illustration and explanation about many other less than usual plants including the Jaboticaba, Jackfruit, Jujube, Lychee, Malabar Chestnut, Raisin Tree, Rose Apple, Sapodilla, Tamarind and White Sapo. The "Custard Apple" or Cherimoya, as it's known in the United States and Latin America, may be cultivated by us northerners in a hot house, except that it can reach 30 feet in height. More about the Cherimoya from California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. Next up Jostaberris and Pole Apples!

A Recent Note Exchange —
Here is an article about ornamental pears going wild and spreading like a plague around urban and suburban areas in the eastern states which I thought you might find interesting...have you observed the same so called "plague of pears" in your area? - C.E.
Yep, I know about this. Our neighborhood is a breeding ground. It must be about 20 years ago that the association sprang for the cost of purchasing enough Bradford pears to line both sides of the road into our development and all the side streets and cul-de-sacs. Apparently they were given the wrong variety (Redspire), but they decided it would cost too much to redo. So, every fall we get squishy ornamental pear droppings on parked cars, sidewalks (shoes, stroller tires, backpack wheels, etc.). One neighbor taught her daughter to call them poison-berries, but Harmon knows them as those nasty ornamental pears. They have an ugly shape, growing like a pear tree would, all criss-crossed limbs and vertical suckers. But they do look pretty in the spring, forming long elegant sweeps of white, except, where homeowners have paid to have them removed.... year by year, the gaps are ever widening. - S.E. (12/11/03)

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all." - Stanley Horowitz

The FruitFromWashington.com virtual gallery tour brings you some of the greatest art masterpieces of all time. It includes works of Still Life With Fruit and Other Orchard Scenes. Now featuring the art of Gillis de Berg, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Jan Davidsz de Heem, Cornelis de Heem, Alfred Sisley and William Sydney Mount. Take the fruitful, virtual art gallery tour!

The less control we feel we have over our daily lives, the more superstitious we become. "Friday the Thirteenth" isn't just a date on the calendar. It has come to stand for many things. The superstitious think of it as a day to stay in bed and avoid other supposedly bad luck actions such as walking under ladders or allowing black cats to cross your path (if you have a couple of black cats like Cory does, you know how risky that can be). However during the mid-1930's, quilters knew "Friday the Thirteenth" as the latest new design in quilt squares. Here's the pattern if any of you crafty stitchers want to try a hand at it. See the Quilters Cache for this Friday the Thirteenth Block pattern, directions and template.

There's not a day in all the year
But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
To brim the past's wide measure.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Bake something; you’ll feel better.” - Peter Fresulone

Quick Click Highlights for Winter
Grocery List • Calorie Search • Fruit Calorie Search • Searchable recipe database • Winter Time Literary Quotes • Virtual Art Gallery of Fruit Still Life, Farm & Orchard Scenes • Winter Farm scene screensaver • Winter Garden Tips • Cooking Links • Seasonal computer wallpaper by Katie Eberhart: Winter Orchard Images

Use our printable order forms to phone or fax your Fruit Gift Box or Furniture Orders to our sales desk at Fruit From Washington.com. Order form is pdf version requiring Adobe Reader to view.

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Shop for Gift Boxes of Fresh, Mountain Grown Apples and Pears Shipped to Your Home or Business

D.R. Eberhart & Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 877, Ellensburg, WA 98926
You May Fax Your Apple Order Form To: 1-509-968-4340

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October 22, 2004

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