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Peach Heaven III, 2015 update - Let’s Have A Peach Festival !
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By Brad Schwan, Schwan Orchards, Catawba, FB
For the past several years I have reported here the status of each year’s peach crop. It is amazing how widespread interest is in Catawba Island grown peaches. This interest seems to come from two sources.
Parents and grandparents recall driving through all the peach orchards in Catawba and stopping
to purchase a bushel to “put up” to enjoy all year long. We talk with visitors at our market almost daily that share their fond memories then give their age away by asking about an old variety (like Elberta). Their age also shows when they mention that they remember buying a bushel of beautiful Catawba peaches for three dollars!
So the first reason for everyone’s interest is the great memories. The second reason seems that by now most people understand the finicky and even difficult nature of growing peaches. I can understand why farmers are reluctant to raise a crop that takes four years to produce and then falls victim to nature’s worst on a regular basis. Many remember a few years ago, on the second day of harvesting we were devastated by a five minute shower of hail. Other years suffered through spring frost, mid-winter super cold, insect attacks and fungus problems. As I write this article, there is enough wind and rain that I expect to lose a fair number of trees to uprooting or wet roots. These problems are now understood by most peach lovers, as so many times we have had to say, “Sorry, no local peaches this year.”
So we understand why local peach farmers seem to be the Punxsutawney Phil groundhog of peach forecasting.
This year is shaping up to be another out-of- the-ordinary year. A winter temperature under ten below zero can be devastating as we saw a year ago. Last summer following temperatures well below
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this threshold, we not only lost all the peaches, but most of the trees older than six years actually died. This last winter’s temperatures hit minus nine three times. Several other growers and I thought all would be lost. I can now report that although reduced, the 2015 crop has survived! Lake Erie slightly warmer than
did her job of keeping us
orchards as near as a couple miles inland that lost all of this year’s crop.
My wife Diana and I have decided a celebration is in order so we would like to announce that we will be holding a Catawba Island Peach Festival at our orchard on August 8. The festival is in the planning stages so I can not give final details yet. We would like to open the orchard for picnics and tours and also have demonstrations and entertainment. Also a dessert judging, and homemade wine judging and sharing, could be fun. If you have any suggestions or thoughts or know anyone that could help make this a success please contact me at 419-341-7326 (phone or text). For more information, as it becomes available, please go to Schwan Orchards Facebook page. In the meantime please mark August 8 on your calendar and help spread the word.
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