Harvest Schedule - 2009/2010

Our President's Message - November 2009

Have you ever wondered why our nation's fresh fruits and vegetables are grown mostly by family farms? It is because of the tremendous amount of close attention that must be paid to each crop, a level of involvement that only hands-on owners are able to achieve. While many other industries are dominated by large publicly-traded and even foreign-owned corporations, family farms still dominate the specialty crop landscape.

Peter Rabbit Farms is a third generation grower and marketer of the finest fruits and vegetables in the Coachella Valley. We are proud of our 60-year heritage, handed down from generation to generation, taking care of the land, taking care of our employees, and feeding the world.

The Coachella Valley is a beautiful part of the world. Surrounded by towering mountain peaks, our weather is unique in Southern California. While the summers are very hot, the remaining 9 months of the year are perfect for growing a wide variety of abundant fruit and vegetable crops.

Much has changed over the years, but our commitment to growing the highest quality and safest food supply in the world has not. Our version of sustainability is not just the latest buzzword. We have always taken care of our resources, knowing that in the long run, the land, water, and safe practices we employ would also take care of us.

I hope you have a chance to enjoy the fruits of our labors, grown right here in the USA.

John Powell, Jr.

We at Peter Rabbit Farms have kicked off our Fall Season Harvest! The Eggplant and Green Pepper harvest are in full swing. We have started our Red Bell Pepper and Yellow Bell Pepper harvest. Our Pepper program should last through Christmas as long as the weather continues to be beautiful!

Our quality has been outstanding so far with near perfect growing conditions. The fall varieties of the Green Bells allow for fewer peppers per plant but the smoothness and consistency is superb. It will take a few weeks to get the Red Bell production up to its peak and optimum Red color.

We have a late Green Bean crop that will be ready for harvest the middle of next week. These Beans taste great and are well worth the wait! Make sure to call early to get your order in.

Our winter leaf harvest should begin the week of November 16. We will have Romaine, Romaine Hearts, Green and Red Leaf, Butter Leaf, and Spinach. This is the second year we are offering Spinach and Romaine Hearts. We are really excited to add these new products to our Winter Leaf Program!

It is lining up to be an exceptional season. Ed Lopez, John King, and John Burton have their headsets back on and ready to setup your fall vegetable and winter leaf programs. Give one of them a call on our Sales Phone number: (760)398-0136. Or you can email them at
sales @peterrabbitfarms.com.

Green Bell Peppers are hand picked and placed on a sorting table.

Green Bell Peppers are hand graded and packed into the Peter Rabbit Farms cartons.

Eggplant is also hand picked for the freshest quality!

Eggplant is washed then stickered and wrapped in tissue paper to protect it's tender skin.

Eggplant recipe stickers are available upon request. Retail customers love them!

These green beans taste great! Watch for them next week just in time for Thanksgiving.

Fall Crop 2009

What a great summer we had! Wonderful vacations were taken to Montana, Puerto Rico, San Diego, Hawaii…

We are now looking forward to the fall crop harvest. Check out the pictures below to see how the crops are developing. We are expecting to start harvesting the Eggplant next week followed up by the Green Peppers the second week of October and Red Peppers in late October. Green Beans should start Late November. The crops are looking beautiful. Fall in the desert means lots of sunshine and warm weather. Perfect produce growing weather!

Are you going to the PMA? We are! Watch for the Peter Rabbit contingency walking the convention floor. We will all be wearing green Peter Rabbit Farms’ shirts. Our salesmen, John Burton, John King, and Ed Lopez, will be attending all three days. If you want to schedule a meeting with one of them give them a call at 760-398-0136 or send them an email. This number even will work while they are at the convention; it allows you to reach them on their cell phones. We’d really like to meet with you!

An abundant supply of Eggplant ready to be harvested next week!

Great Fall Pepper stand

Lots of Red Peppers just about ready to turn color

Red Bell Peppers

We are getting more and more Red Bells as every day goes by. These babies have been growing for the past several months and are finally ready for your customers. The deep rich red color of these Peppers shows just a hint of the sweet tangy taste they have when you bite into one. Our Peppers
come in all shapes, sizes and colors so make sure you get hold of one of our salesman and he will help you with placing your orders.

All of our Bell Peppers are packed by hand on special packing tables right in the field.

Just check out the size on these Peppers just waiting for the sunshine to help them turn color. And there a plenty of them left to turn red.

Sugraones...

Sugraones are one of the largest grapes grown in the Coachella Valley, just look at the bunch above. With their love of sunshine and warm days they take a little longer to ripen. The reward for this is a large colorful, crunchy piece of fruit that will be a delight for your customers. Our Sugraones are now ready! Give the sales team a call to place your order. Hurry before they are all gone...

Our Sales Assistant - Gabby Flores loves the sweet Sugraones!

Memorial Day

Peter Rabbit Farms would like to thank all of our veterans for all that they have done and will do for our great country. Have a great weekend!

Greens,Reds, and Blacks available this week!

Sugraones should be starting up on Tuesday or Wednesday. And boy do they have the sweet sugar! Flames are continuing to go strong and will be available thru most of June. Our Summer Royals are just starting and will be available thru the middle of June. We will finish up the Perlettes this week.

We are having great “Grape Weather”! The weather is warming up with the temperatures predicted in the low 100s during the day and around 68 at night. Supplies will increase each day with volume peaking the weeks of June 1st and June 8th. As you can see from the pictures below, the quality, size and color is outstanding. All of the Grapes will look beautiful on your display shelves!

Give us a call at (760) 398-0136 for more information and ad features. We also have Clam shell packs available.

Summer Royal

Flames

Perlettes

Eggplant & Grapes

The Eggplant and Grape harvest started today. We are starting off with a low volume just to get under way and to get some of the produce off the plants and vines. This allows the plants and vines to have a little breathing room which will help to bring on the rest of the crop much more quickly with great color and delicious flavor. Look for the volume to increase in time to have plenty of produce available for those Memorial Day ads.

The green bells are in full swing and should stay that way until the middle of June. Some of our fields are just starting while others we have yet to pick a box. We expect to be picking the green bells through the middle of June.

Red bells will kick off the week May 18th. Can you believe that is next week already? We should start off with a slow steady harvest and building to a peak just before Memorial Day. Let us know how we can be of service to you. - Ed Lopez, John King, Don Fazio, and John Burton.

Below are photos of the beautiful eggplant crop we have this year. As you can tell from these flowers there are plenty eggplant to be harvested!

Plenty of Eggplant Flowers still to develop.

Beautiful color & Healthy plants lead to delicious eggplant!

We have beautiful color and great size variation on the eggplant we are harvesting. Just let us know what size you need and we can pack it.

Meet Eggplant Joe, we like Egg Joe and his family so much we will never be sending them out in any of our boxes.

Grapes, Grapes, Grapes!

Our Grapes are almost ready to be harvested. Just check out the attached photos! The bunches are starting to take shape and the color is almost there on the Summer Royals and Flames. The size of the Grapes this year is fairly large for this stage of the season. We are going to have some large bunches and large berries at harvest time!
Green Bells are in full stride with Red Bells and Eggplant coming up soon.
Plenty of Ad’s are still available on all commodities for the Memorial Day holiday. Give Ed Lopez, John King, John Burton, or Don Fazio a call so we can set something up for you!

Flames

Flames

Perlettes

Perlettes

Perlettes

Summer Royal

Summer Royal

Sugraone

Sugraone

Green Beans are here!

The green beans are ready. Get 'em while they last! This year's crop looks beautiful. The sales staff has been busy taking orders. Give them a call to get your order in before the beans are gone.

Memorial Day Ad Time!

The Green Bean harvest is set to start tomorrow, April 24th. Make sure to call early to get your order in. It is expected to be a quick harvest. Ummm can't wait for some Fresh Green Beans cooked in a little olive oil, garlic, and slivered almonds. They are even good enough to eat raw off the vine. Maybe we can persuade the PRF Bunny to get up from his nap under the grape vines and pose for some photos with the Beans!

The Green Pepper harvest is gearing up. Look at the beautiful Peppers we are picking! The crews love picking in this great weather.

We have our best crews out making sure that only the best peppers get packed in the Peter Rabbit Farms Label.

Now is the time to place your Memorial Day ads for Table Grapes, Red Bells and Eggplant. We will have a promotable volume of Flame Seedless Grapes shipping starting May 11th. Aggressive pricing will be available towards the end of May and early June. Our Sugraones will also be available for volume loads starting around Memorial Day and progressing through mid to late June.

We like to think its all in the way you treat the vine. By providing the right mix of sunshine, water, and nutrients, Peter Rabbit Farms produces beautiful Grapes. We are expecting the best quality that we have seen in years. Any way you slice it Peter Rabbit Farms has the right product at the right time. Call one of our experienced sales staff and see for yourself how good we can make you look!

That is John Burton's hand in the background. So you know that bunch of Summer Royals is big if it covers his hand!

Flame Seedless

One of the things we are looking for this time of year just before harvest is the canopy on the grape vines that protect the bunches from getting too much direct sunlight. You want to have good growth that protects but not so much that the workers have difficulty getting to the grapes themselves. As you can see from these photos we have great canopy on the vines. Those bunches are going to be great!

Sugraone

Sugraone

Perlettes

Perlettes

Harvest Time is here for the Peppers.

Well the Peppers have won the race... Monday, April 13, will mark one of the earliest starts to the spring Green Bell Pepper harvest we have had in the last 25 years. We planted the peppers a little earlier this year. Our gamble paid off thanks to the mild late winter conditions and warm days. We have a near perfect early stand of Peppers. Check out the pictures below. Our first field is located on the high east side of the valley slope. Because of that location, the Peppers in that field have been able to drink in the warm spring sunshine. Our Red and Yellow Bell Peppers will be about 3 weeks behind the Greens with a projected start date of early May. We should also see the Eggplant start about the same time. Green Beans on the other hand will come off around April 20th and the pick will be fast and furious as it always is in the spring.

Table grapes are now in full growth mode with most of the bunches already formed and growing right before your very eyes. It still looks like the Perlettes and the Flames will start almost the same day around the 6th of May. The Flame crop looks to be one the best in years with larger than normal bunch sizes and more grapes per vine than previous years. We are very excited about the mix of varieties and the volume that will be available for Memorial Day Ads. Give one of our Sales Team a call at (760)398-0136 to see what we can do for you.



The PRF Bunny is out selling Perlettes. He is so excited about the crop we have coming off the vines this year. We didn't have the heart to tell him to that he will have to wait until May. Look for him in Blogs to come.

More Perlettes for Sale... look for them May

Sugraone Grapes - Wow, look at that bunch size!

Spring Harvest

We're real excited for the spring harvest! It looks like the Peppers will win the race and come off first. Then we're off from there with the Green Beans, then Eggplant, and last but certainly not the least the Grapes. We will have a great crop this year. Check out the latest and greatest pictures from the fields. We'd also like to welcome back Don Fazio who will be joining John Burton, John King, and Ed Lopez on the sales desk. Give them a call if you need more information, (760) 398-0136.