September harvests begin

A few short notes: Local blues are all but done, so we’ll be buying from Eastern Washington for a couple of weeks, where they don’t have the normal problems here of heavy dew and warm days making the fruit soft – good thing there’s a good market for frozen fruit! The new great thing this week will be the first harvest of Neil Sproule’s Coronation grapes. With increasing production at several farms, and a long season, this is definitely something to make good shelf space for. These are the grapes that have traditionally been used for grape juice – because of the flavour and natural sugars. Coronations are a cousin of the original Concorde that has a great big seed in the middle.
A great weather forecast – even long range ones look like they’re just perfect for what we hope is a great melon season – both for growing, and for sales. Plum selection continues to increase – we’re into the thick of it now. And local pear volumes are increasing. Of course, we are discounting California fruit as we make this transition. Ralph’s Greenhouse bunched carrots have been our mainstay through the summer, and continue to sell well, based entirely on quality and presentation. With a warm spell coming up, supply of all B.C. vegetables will continue strong on most fronts – we’re having to buy very little south of the line right now. If you’ve been doing well with Walla Walla onions, there’s only one stack left – you snooze, you lose. The tomato flood is starting with every grower coming out of the woodwork with good volumes, great flavour and high quality. This is the time to promote local tomatoes – aren’t they better? These aren’t picked white, but higher colour which equals better eating. Fabulous selection of potatoes, don’t ya think? More standard B.C. varieties will roll in, with the balance now mostly Washington. The specialty fingerlings (which are all USA grown) have been a total hit this year.