This year we finally had quite a few apples to harvest which justified the purchase of an apple press. We hope to put it to good use in the future and have discovered that it works well for more than just apples. We christened it with a mixed batch of apples from our orchard and got 4 wine glasses of juice, enough for a toast to Hummingbird Farmz success. We also used it to make some pear juice and even grape juice later. I think this is going to be quite a handy tool and nice decoration too.
We also took our pears and figs to a little market for the first time. It was good practice to figure out just what we needed and got us talking to people about what we will have in the future. Giving out samples for tasting was our best idea, one taste and they wanted more. We met several of our neighbors who have been watching our little orchard grow and they are anxiously awaiting tastes of those heirloom apples. The laws in California have changed now for what you can sell from your home kitchen and I am planning to go through the process so that I can sell some of my jams and jellies in the future. Some fruit has such a short shelf life fresh that processing it makes for a product that you can sell for a much longer period of time. Figs are one of those, they only last a few days off the tree and about a week refrigerated. I made fig jam and balsamic figs that were delicious and last up to a year when processed properly, You 
can also sell baked goods as long the ingredients are listed on the label along with your certification number and the process to get certified is not really hard, but there is a fee, of course, which I think will be worth it next year.
See you at the market!
Ferne
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