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πFEBRUARY 19 CROP REPORT
Winter Citrus Shipping is in full swing... Florida store & Grill are Open!
Matt and I were out checking the crops on Saturday...click the link to view our latest Heirloom Temple Orange grove video Heirloom Temple crop check 2025.
FEB 19th update- Good news- The big freeze up north will end soon so we can safely resume shipping to all "freeze points" currently on hold as of next Monday and Tuesday...hooray!
FEB 15th update- An extreme freeze grips much of the central U.S. for the next few days so we are carefully timing shipments to those states. The eastern seaboard south of NY is still OK but the entire midwest is just too darned cold. Nobody wants frozen fruit! As soon as the nighttime temps rise above the teens we can safely resume shipping to states currently on "freeze hold".
FEB 8th update- It's the height of the citrus season at Al's Family Farms and the store and packinghouse are busy, busy with so many great varieties now available to ship and at our fruit stand!
It's Last Call for FL Glory Orris! FL Temples are in and we're shipping... Honeybells are now shipping too first orders in are the first orders out. FEBRUARY is NATIONAL GRAPEFRUIT MONTH so we're celebrating by offering 10% OFF All Grapefruit packages. Oh Happy day- FL Heirloom Temple Oranges are in and Matt's shipping them daily!
FAQ #1: WHEN CAN I EXPECT MY HONEYBELL ORDER TO BE SHIPPED?
Answer- Honeybell orders are shipped out based on the date the order was placed AND as soon as the fruit meets Al's strict standards. Unlike Navels that bloom first each February, Honeybells are the last variety to bloom each Spring and bloom continuously over a long period of time. That's why we wait on them and carefully clip them slowly over time, selecting only the very best Honeybells each week for your precious gift boxes.
Note: This week's tests are excellent now so Matt ramped up shipping volume. Honeybell shipping volume will continue to increase each week as we head to the peak of the season (typically Mid-February). We will continue packing and shipping Honeybells all the way thru February and into March. Thanks for your patience!
HONEYBELLS ARE BEGINNING TO HARVEST NOW. The "EH" (Earliest Honeybells available JAN-FEB) orders have shipped (exception is "freeze hold" states). We're on the "MH" (Main Honeybell season FEB) shipments now. Shipping volume continues to increase each week. ALL "MH" shipments should be on the way by the end of next week! Orders are shipped out based on the date they were placed and the ripeness of the fruit (See "Freeze Hold" state info...2/19 update- Freeze Hold is ending!)
GLORY ORRI Mandarins LAST CALL... We are almost sold out! They are fabulous right now. Supply is very limited now but Glory Orris are still available for shipping thru this week and until they are sold out.
FEBRUARY is National Grapefruit Month! NOW Shipping...Our Indian River Grown, RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT just get sweeter by the month.
Yes! We're still shipping sweet, Navel Oranges.
JAN 25th update- We are sending our picking crew to the Temple grove to start picking FL Heirloom Temple Oranges later on this week. JAN 23rd- Al's locally grown, Heirloom TEMPLE Oranges are looking beautiful on the tree already. the Temple harvest should be ready to begin by late next week.
Crop FAQs- When are the Honeybells going to be ripe and ready to ship? Right now we are just beginning to ship Honeybells for those who ordered early and chose "EH" (earliest honeybells available). Al's is picky and willing to wait on our Honeybells to fully ripen so they taste great when they finally arrive. Those who ordered for "MH" (main honeybell season) are still a few weeks from being ready to ship. We can't rush this, patience pays...they'll be worth the wait!
*I will update this page each week with the latest info as we run weekly maturity tests on sugar content (brix) of your fruit.
Great News- AL'S STORE HAS REOPENED! We've relocated across the driveway in our Little Red Barn while repairs and renovations are being made to the Big Red Barn following October 9th's Milton tornado. Michelle has us fully stocked with too many local citrus varieties to list. Choose from Red Navels, Navels, Glory Orris, SugarBelles, Red Grapefruit, and Honeybells will are coming shortly. Local Honey, Al's Jams, Marmalades, and Dressings and Florida candies too.
Archives: JAN 25th update- Cold is breaking up north so we can start shipping again!
Honeybell update: Last week we started shipping out a few early Honeybell Orders but we are waiting for Matt to give the green light on our main bloom crop before we really get shipping. As always, we wait for the Honeybell crop to be fully tree-ripened before we pack and ship out your precious gifts.
JAN 23rd- It's been ridiculously cold up north lately so we've had to temporarily stop shipping to avoid freezing your precious fruit in transit. We're watching and waiting for a slight warmup before we can resume. Atlanta has been in the teens. It's been rainy and chilly (not freezing) here too... Y'all please keep your weather to yourselves.
Al's Winter Varieties:
 Navels
 FL Red Grapefruit (Shipping Now)
 FL Glory Orri (LAST CALL!)
 Honeybell (Just beginning to harvest)
 FL Temple (Shipping Now!)
 FL Peaches (April)
Reserve Al's Peaches now!
 Mega-Trays
Save $9 on Al's MEGA-TRAYS (App.18lbs of mid-sized Honeybells or the variety of your choice... Includes a FREE jar of orange blossom honey & juice sipper)
 
Take 20% OFF!... Al's Juice Lovers boxes
If you're a juice lover but live too far away to come to Al's for your juice, no worries- we can ship you a no frills box of Fresh JUICE ORANGES to squeeze at home.
That's all for now,
Jeff & Matt
November 11, 2024
It's Citrus, Gift Fruit Shipping Time!
Welcome Back to our 47th Florida Citrus
season at Al's Family Farms.
We're located in the heart of the Indian River
Growing Region. Thanks for joining us for another
fantastic & fruitful year! We appreciate you allowing
us to share our freshest, tastiest local citrus with you
and your loved ones this season.
 FL Early Mandarins
FL Navels
 FL SugarBelles
Honeybells
FL Red Grapefruit
FL Peaches
(Pics above are current varieties of the season)
How's the new season shaping up, what's shipping, what's next?
Great growing conditions produced a superb Florida Citrus crop
at Al's for 2024-25. What a difference a year makes. (The grove
store will reopen soon at the Little Red Barn across the driveway.)
Next SugarBelles will join our classic, Florida Navels, Glory Orris
and Heirloom Temple Oranges. Of course our world famous, Indian
River Grapefruit will be unequaled in quality as always.
What's Shipping When?
Our Florida grown Navel Oranges, Christmas Red Navels & Ruby Red Grapefruit
are all testing great and we are shipping them now.
2nd & 3rd Generation, Al's Family Farms
*Good News- Our world famous, Indian River Grapefruit will continue to be
available for shipping every month now through
early April.
September 17, 2024
It's Citrus, Gift Fruit Shipping Time!
Welcome Back to our 47th Florida Citrus
season at Al's Family Farms.
We're located in the heart of the Indian River
Growing Region. Thanks for joining us for another
fantastic & fruitful year! We appreciate you allowing
us to share our freshest, tastiest local citrus with you
and your loved ones this season.
 FL Early Pride
FL Navels
FL SugarBelles
Honeybells
FL Red Grapefruit
FL Peaches
(Pics above are current varieties of the season)
How's the new season shaping up, what's shipping, what's next?
Great growing conditions produced a superb Florida Citrus crop
at Al's for 2024-25. What a difference a year makes. (The grove
store will open on Oct. 22nd with Early Pride Mandarins.)
Next SugarBelles will join our classic, Florida Navels, Glory Orris
and Heirloom Temple Oranges. Of course our world famous, Indian
River Grapefruit will be unequaled in quality as always.
What's Shipping When?
I still have to test the internal maturities of each variety but
from what I see this week, riding the groves I feel we will
have Early Pride Mandarins that are shipping worthy quality
on or before Oct 22nd.
Our Florida grown Navel Oranges, & Ruby Red Grapefruit
will be right behind them, in the store by the end of October
and be of shipping quality by early November.
2nd & 3rd Generation, Al's Family Farms
*Good News- Our world famous, Indian River Grapefruit will be
available for shipping every month from Late October through
early April.
2024 ARCHIVE-
Fresh FLORIDA Valencia Oranges- Enjoy the world's most popular orange. We're proud of our locally grown, Indian River Valencias since they're the absolute sweetest grown anywhere in the world. We hope to still have them available for shipping thru Mid-May.
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