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

FRUITFROMWASHINGTON.COM WEB-LETTER
May 2003
Need to Give Business Gifts?
We Specialize in Customized Corporate Gift Packages!

Fruit From Washington May Fruit Subscription Variety is a 20-count gift box of Washington State Red Delicious Apples. Those who have signed up for the monthly Apple Subscription of our 15-count gift box of "strictly apples" will also receive Red Delicious Apples in May! For your subscription order, look for delivery mid-month.
Apple of the Month, in a 15-count gift box, 6-month subscription order, keeps your kitchen supplied with tasty and delicious, always the best of the lot, varieties of apples.

The 2002 crop of Bosc, a popular dessert pear, in wooden gift box of six, box of 15 is still available! (2002 Crop Sold Out)

Our selection of Apple Varieties includes:

Washington flag-apple Red Delicious: fancy wooden gift box or gift box of 15.

Fuji apples, - a new favorite -- great for eating and cooking -- gift box of 15 or wooden box with 6 Fujis. (2002 Crop Sold Out)

Golden Delicious is a versatile, creamy yellow jewel. Golden Delicious -- gift box of 15 or six in a wooden gift box.

Granny Smith apples are a tart, crisp apple, great for eating (if you like tart apples) and fabulous for pies! - 15 per box or wooden box with six.

From the FruitFromWashington Mail Bag - I found your recipe ingredient converter through a Google search and it is absolutely wonderful!! I have many recipes that are for 50+ people and could find no way to reliably convert them. Thank you so much for providing this program. It is absolutely the best! - P.H., 4/5/03

Order classic outdoor furniture made in Ellensburg, Washington, from our online Classic Garden Catalog* such as this Cedar Potting Table, made by FFW Manufacturing of Ellensburg, Washington, perfect for the economical gardener. Special Priced during May at $259.99 (including shipping* - Regular price $299.99) (Special price good through 5/30/03)

We offer other solidly constructed and beautiful retro-styled pieces including Picnic 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.

It's always easy to buy garden furniture, or gift boxes of Washington grown apples and pears from FruitFromWashington.com! For all phone orders, call toll-free 1-877-AT-FRUIT.

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

The bloom season is in full swing by May. Imagine, before going to bed, you set your temperature controlled alarm clock to wake you the moment that the outdoor mercury drops to freezing; knowing that the alarm could ring at any time during the night hours, knowing that if cloud cover settles in and temperatures don't fall, it won't ring at all. That's what Urban does each spring and this year has been no exception. If you conversed with Urban during these mid-April to early May nightly cold snaps, and noticed that he sounded just a tad not himself, chalk it up to lack of sleep. Honorable mention goes to Kim, Urban's wife, for her enduring patience with this crazy annual routine.

Our ability to monitor multiple micro-climates around the orchard blocks is crucial to protecting fragile blossoms from the threat of death by freezing. Shriveled, blackened blossoms dropping to the ground are the nightmare of not waking up in time to jump into the truck and make the rounds in the dark to start up wind machines and turn on sets of sprinklers for critical frost protection.

O frost bitten blossoms,
That are unfolding your wings
From out the envious black branches.
Bloom quickly and make much of the sunshine
The twigs conspire against you
Hear them!
They hold you from behind
You shall not take wing
Except wing by wing, brokenly...
- William Carlos Williams, Aux Imagistes, 1914

All that work to keep fruit blossoms safe from frost would be without any point at all if we didn't have honeybees and other pollinators working to move the pollen around. On a windless, warm day in the spring time orchard, you will see honeybees, now and then a wild bee, wasps, flies, butterflies, and even beetles working the flowers. At dusk there will be moths about, lured by sweetly scented flowers. Grafted pollinator limbs plus the inter-planted blocks of different varieties of trees provide the opportunity for cross-pollination, resulting in a better set of finer fruit.

“Fruit orchards cannot be planted profitably on a very extensive scale without maintaining in connection with them numerous colonies of honeybees...” - A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture, A. I. and E. R. Root, Medina, Ohio, The A.I Root Company, 1920.

The home gardener has discovered the wonders of raising pollinator bees. Some years ago, our sister, Cory, attempted this project in western Oregon, using a starter kit of orchard mason bees from Knox Cellars in Redmond, WA. Unfortunately, her little population of orchard masons did not take hold but the bee block wasn't wasted as it was quickly colonized by a family of cutter bees which happily carved large bites out of the leaves of her roses, making bright green macerated plugs to pack into the bee block cells. See the Washington State University Extension Gardening Library for more about orchard mason bees. Also, see these directions by Randy Person on how-to make a modular home for pollinator bees!

What plant we in this apple tree?
Sweets for a hundred flowery springs
To load the May-wind's restless wings,
When, from the orchard-row, he pours
Its fragrance through our open doors;
A world of blossoms for the bee,
Flowers for the sick girl's silent room,
For the glad infant sprigs of bloom,
We plant with the apple tree.
- William Cullen Bryant, The Planting of the Apple Tree

Water supply called adequate this growing season. Updated monthly, the Bureau of Reclamation set the Kittitas Reclamation District April supply at 91%. Still, the local irrigation district cautions farmers and orchardists "to be very conservative with water use and management this entire season." Water began to flow in the ditches on April 21. The district's seven ditch riders are back on the job now, a daily sight as they cruise the ditch roads, taking water orders and monitoring usage throughout the system.

“When the cows come home the milk is coming,
Honey's made while the bees are humming...” - Christina Rossetti, Sing-Song, 1893

’Tis the merry month of May.
In the trees the birdies call,
Apple blossoms softly fall,
Here the robin sweetly say
’Tis the merry month of May.
- Traditional

Q&A About our Classic Garden Furniture—Good Morning from California,
I recently purchased the redwood potting table from your company. I want to tell you how much I love the table. It is exactly what I wanted. And my husband put it together using your instructions and it was very easy. The workmanship of the table is terrific and I am so pleased. You mention in the instructions and also on the website that the wood had already been treated. Should I still use the mentioned Daly's Benite Clear on the table? What would you do? And I think that having the price of the table include the shipping costs is a great idea. That is a heavy table and I think the shipping cost would scare people off. I think the price of the table is very reasonable. I have researched many areas for this kind of table and most that I have seen don't come close to this quality and they were about the same price. So, thanks again for making the potting table that I wanted with such care and quality. - S.B., 3/31/03

Thank you for the nice comments about your new redwood potting table. We hope you enjoy it for many years. After all of the boards are cut, drilled, and sanded we submerse them in "Daly's Benite Clear", let them dry for a minimum of 24 hours and then assemble the shelves. We recommend that you wipe "Daly's Benite Clear" on your table at least once a year to preserve the wood. Your local paint or hardware store should be able to help you or perhaps recommend similar products. Thanks again, Ross Eberhart

Personal job coupons make great gifts for family members. On Harmon's recent birthday, sister Aliza presented him with a job coupon offer to make his bed every day for a month!

With Mother's Day coming up, kids, you can make your Mom a special gift coupon like this one.

Check off the items listed on the coupon that you agree to do when your Mom redeems the coupon for you to fulfill. Add other jobs to the list that you think she would really appreciate.

Sign your name and swear to honor every offer that you've made happily and pleasantly. It'll be the best Mother's Day present you can give your Mom!

There is but one May in the year,
And sometimes May is wet and cold;
There is but one May in the year
Before the year grows old.
Yet though it be the chilliest May,
With least of sun and most of showers,
Its wind and dew, its night and day,
Bring up the flowers.
- Christina Rossetti, Sing-Song, 1893

Eastern Washington acreage for sale

Rural lot with stunning view of Kittitas Valley and Cascade Mountains for sale by owner. Located on southern rim of the Kittitas Valley. Short (under 15 minute) drive to Ellensburg with shopping, schools, Central Washington University. Two hour drive from Seattle (international airport, city arts, eating, culture). Perfect country estate size - approximately 3 acres - for rural living. Protective covenants. Trees along property boundaries for privacy. Deep soil and irrigation water - ideal for the gardener or horse owner. (Click for more).

Shop Online for 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

October 22, 2004

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