Hello everyone, how's your week going?
Today, the first thing I want to tell you is that we now have soft traditional persimmons available, the ones that melt in your mouth. Make sure to place your order, because we will only be sending orders today and next Monday. Due to the Christmas holidays, we will do our best to ensure your orders arrive on time, despite the high traffic during these dates.
Now, with a slightly heavy heart, I want to tell you why the persimmon, that autumn aristocrat we care for so much, is becoming increasingly difficult to grow. It's no secret in the region. Every year there are fewer fields. This year I've also seen more fields being uprooted. And when you see the roots in the sun, you get a knot in your stomach.
The first blow comes in winter. Pruning a persimmon isn't just cutting a few twigs and going home. It's almost a surgery. You have to open up the tree, distribute light, remove misplaced wood, and prepare the branches that will bear the weight. It's specialized labor and many hours. A good pruner doesn't just cut, they sculpt. And that costs money.
Then come the year-round care. Between inspections, thinning fruit, tying branches, monitoring pests, and a thousand tender touches, the persimmon requires 8 or 10 easy interventions each season. I'm not talking about miracles; I'm talking about work. You walk the field again and again, take notes, and go back. If you're not on top of it, the persimmon goes wild.
And even so, it's a very delicate crop. Whiteflies, thrips, and mites are persistent. If humidity and rain come at the wrong times, problems appear that mark the skin. For the table, that's no longer useful. Many fruits are left on the tree or on the ground due to size or aesthetic defects, even if they are perfect inside. That's how it is. The persimmon is a diva. It wants sun, shelter, and to have its hair untouched.
Add to this what you don't see. The water that never fails, the irrigation that must be maintained, the diesel for coming and going, the boxes, the cold energy when it's needed, the time for manual selection. And market prices that rise and fall like a Ferris wheel.
You invest all year and then depend on one silly week to make or break the numbers. That's why I say persimmons are now for very specialized farmers. Between the very costly pruning and the year-round care, profitability is at risk.
Understand this. The persimmon has a long cycle. You don't plant today and harvest tomorrow. You invest money and patience for years until the tree performs. If at that point the numbers don't add up, the decision to uproot is not a whim. It's painful, but real. Faced with this situation, quite a few hectares disappear every year. And the landscape changes. And with it, trades, knowledge, and bird nests that took refuge in those planting frames disappear.
What are we doing to resist? Playing to our strengths. Craftsmanship and brains. Every morning we check orders and only harvest what has been ordered. Truly harvest on demand.
That prevents losses, prevents fruit from waiting in cold storage and allows us to pay a fair price to the colleagues who grow with us throughout Spain. We select directly from the tree, load it, and your box leaves with freshly cut fruit. It's the only way we see to defend the persimmon without betraying who we are.
We also rely on age-old tasks. Thinning so branches don't break. Tying with rope to guide the shape and prevent the weight from bringing down the tree. Walking the field often to detect problems early. It seems simple, but it's the difference between succeeding or falling short. If the persimmon could talk, it would tell you that with one or two extra timely touches, a tremendous headache later on is avoided.
I know that sometimes someone looks at the price and thinks we've gone overboard. I wish you could see everything that goes into each piece that reaches your table. That persimmon may have passed through three hands before entering your box.
We may have removed two neighboring branches so that it could grow well. We may have protected it from the wind by tying it and chosen it from many. That care is noticeable when you eat it and keeps the trade alive.
If you'll allow me a wish. When you buy fruit, no matter where you buy it, think about who is on the other side. If you can, support direct purchase. And if it's with us, even better, of course, because that way we all help sustain these fields that resist disappearing and defend fair prices for those who work the land. Here we continue harvesting as our grandparents did. Without haste, without shortcuts, with respect for the tree and for your table.
Thank you for reading to the end and for being here. If you're curious about anything regarding persimmons, let me know. I love it when you write to me and ask me to explain things about farming. I try to make us learn together and with a smile. The day you see me talking to the persimmon, don't be alarmed. It's just that we're like family now.
