~ original artwork by Craig Shillam ~

An ’08 seasonal update from Hansen’s Orchard

Spring has finally sprung!!  Wow…what a winter!!  Snow has been gone just long enough to make us optimistic about getting the pruning finished and the orchard floor ready for another season. We are behind schedule, however.  It will be a scramble to get done before blossoms appear.  The fence project really has paid off.  We had no deer in the orchard this winter.  It should make a difference in fruit production.  We are adding a few more peach trees and more blackberries. We are anxious to see how all of last years’ plantings survived the winter.  Continue on for the ’08 crop time-line…

Our first crop is always cherries!  I can taste them now!!  Bings, Vans, Rainiers, Lamberts, Lapins, and Montmorency Pie.  We’ll have the picking buckets ready.  Last year we opened for cherries July 10.   Start checking that first week of July. And don’t forget the Cherry Picker’s Trot on July 17.

Peaches come next.  Last year we began picking the Early Redhavens August 6.  If you’ve never had a fresh-picked Redhaven peach you are in for a taste treat beyond compare.  Canning peaches (cling-free varieties) ripen after the Early Redhavens.  We  have several varieties of canning peaches.  Check after the first week of August.

For apples you’ll want to begin checking around mid-August.  The Gravenstein, Earligold, Gingergold, Early Blaze, Buckley Giant and Summer Red report will be posted then.  From then on it’s apples (over 50 varieties) and cider pretty much through the end of October.  During Apple Festival (mid Sept.-end of Oct.) you’ll want to take home some chunky applesauce, caramel apples, take-n-bake pastries, jam and honey, and a jug or two of fresh, pasteurized apple cider.  A couple of the pressings will include our famous grape/apple cider and also cherry/apple cider.  The shed will also be stocked with Rada knives, dishcloths, baskets, apple peelers, craft items and more.

It’s pretty quiet up here in the winter.  We are looking forward to seeing all of you again.  Cancer claimed our gentleman lab/retriever greeter, Toby, last October.  He is greatly missed!  We do have a young retriever with a big, playful heart named Riley who came to us from the Retriever Rescue people.  He is definitely still in training but he loves people and he loves to run in the orchard.

If you have time, and are new to our orchard, you might want to read on and learn something about the history of how we got started.    

Hansen’s Orchard… a History

In the fall of 1985, I came to Green Bluff to buy a box of Bartlett pears at the Rinck and Wing Farm.  I mentioned that my husband, Rod, always had a dream of owning an orchard.  Laughingly Gert Rinck said they had 10 acres for sale down the road.   I did a drive-by and sure enough, on the property was an old 4-sale sign half lying on the ground.  That evening when Rod came home from teaching at Whitworth we gathered around and I shared my story.  “There is a nice piece of land for sale on the west side of Green Bluff and we need to take a look at it”.  Thanks to the Rincks the rest is history.

That spring, a well was dug, nearly 1,000 apple, cherry and peach trees were planted, a house was built…and the dream was reality…well almost!  We had no tractor, no implements, no outbuildings, and no knowledge of orcharding.  What we did have was a love of the land and a willingness to work hard.

Very early we realized we needed equipment beyond shovels, rakes and hoes.  Our first tractor was an old Ford 9N which we moved here from Montana. Later a John Deere 1010 was purchased in Ellensburg.  The current John Deere 2150 came from Hood River.  Acquiring each of these is a story in itself.  Ask Rod. He loves to tell them.  Implements were added as needed and as we could afford them.  Equipment needs shelter.  We located an old double garage in the valley and moved it to the farm.  It’s now our cider room.  Later we added storage on one side and a selling room on the other side.

The trees are grafted to M111 rootstock, suitable for dry land farming—meaning no irrigation.  It takes about 6 years to get them into production.  We were looking forward to our first real harvest when a terrible hailstorm hit mid-June.  The crop was ruined.  This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because, not wanting to totally lose the less than perfect apples, we borrowed a neighbor’s antique press and made our first batch of cider.  Friends really liked the taste and by the next year we were pressing on a much larger scale.  Our current press is a patented invention…one of two out there.  Hansen’s cider production grows larger and more popular each year. New apple varieties are constantly being researched and planted.

Homemade jams have always been a part of our family activities since our time in Montana in the 70’s…where we picked choke cherries, rose hips, raspberries and Flathead Lake cherries…turning them into jams and syrups.  Last year we made and sold 20 varieties of homemade jams and apple butter.

Grapes entered the scene about a dozen years ago when son Derrick appeared one day with some Concord grape plants in the trunk of his car.  Plant them we did and that adventure has grown to the current grape arbor you see when you arrive.  Juiced, those grapes are a wonderful addition to our apple cider.  Our secret recipe for making your own grape juice goes like this:  in a clean quart jar place 1 cup washed and stemmed grapes.  Add about ¼ cup sugar.  Fill with boiling water.  Place sterilized lid on and process 20 minutes in boiling water bath.  It needs to sit about a month before use. 

In the selling shed you will find hand-woven rag rugs.  We are weavers and enjoy using recycled materials to create something useful.  As us how we got started weaving.

Visit us at: www.HansensGreenBluffOrchard.com!!!