Unless you have spent the last Three months in Iceland, with drought being declared in Herefordshire in July, you won’t be suprised that the weather will be having an effect upon our harvest this season.
Essentially we expect low yields but high sugar content fruit.
I have been hanging on in the hope that some rain would allow me to give a more optimistic outlook but there has been none and neither is any forecast in the near future.
We desperately require rain to swell the fruit out and prevent the trees from dropping fruit prematurely.
This leaves us with the dilemma of how to keep our customers happy without “over promising and under delivering”.
The bottom line is that this Year we have very few Perry Pears available and the main varieties of cider apples are patchy.
We will therefore OPEN THE WEBSITE UP FOR PRE ORDERS OF CIDER APPLES AND JUICE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS BUT WILL HAVE TO CLOSELY MONITOR AVAILABILITY OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS BEFORE CONFIRMING SUPPLY FOR FIRM ORDERS.
Obviously, given the current financial landscape, our costs have risen this Year and this will need to be reflected within our prices. However, rest assured that we aim to remain loyal to our existing customers by not entering any price bidding wars if supplies become restricted.
We strive to continue finding ways to save money for our customers without sacrificing quality. Such measures include:
- Flexibility : Customers can supply their own cleaned containers for us to fill into.
- Recycling : We use rebottled IBC’s to cut costs without compromising hygiene
- Photovoltaic panels to save on energy used to chill the fruit
On a more positive note, we are continually looking to improve the qualilty in which we supply the fruit. One major factor is in removing FIELD HEAT from the apples and Pears as soon as possible after harvest. We have optimised the effect of this within our chilled fruit store by creating a “venturi” that continually recirculates cold air across newly harvested fruit. We intend this season to further improve this through the use of specially side vented IBC bags. Please look out for my next blog that will explain this in more detail, with pictures to help.
