In 1973 my brother Ben and his wife Debbie moved to Alaska. Alaska had everything Ben had dreamed of...except good fresh fruit. Ben longed to go to his Uncle Jonie's farm and pick the juicy peaches of his childhood memories. Peaches were supposed to be the size of softballs and so juicy that if you didn't have a towel handy, you may as well head for the showers. He finally convinced me to send him a box of fruit. And another. And another. Soon some of his friends and neighbors wanted a box and it was not long until Tree Things was born.

Ben started peddling the fruit to several communities in Alaska, selling peaches by the pound, giving discounts for 5 pounds or more. Within a few years, he had 300 customers. After his untimely death in 1982, these customers began clamoring for the fresh fruit they were accustomed to. Ben's wife encouraged me to take over the route and the business.

At that time, Wanda and I had 3 little girls. Wanda would type up the letter and price list while our girls helped put stamps on the letters and answered the phone. Now if the stamps are crooked, we only have the dog to blame since our girls are grown. When we started, we did everything by hand. Now we have computers, fax machines, answering machines – and now this website to help serve you better.

Many people in Alaska assume that we take this delicious fruit to other locations across the U.S. Sorry, your friends in Colorado will have to wait; we only bring fruit to Alaska! You are truly special to us. Our friends here know that our lives are consumed for several months by "Alaska" and they patiently wait until we are finished in September before expecting us to resume normal life.

Why our fruit is different

We live in the center of California in the rich San Joaquin Valley. Our fruit is all grown by American farmers, and the majority of it comes from the area surrounding our hometown of Reedley. We do get our late season cherries from farms in Washington state but otherwise, all of the produce comes from this area, known as the "fruit basket of the world". We are truly blessed by the fruit grown in our region.

This fruit is different than you find in your stores. In fact, it is different than we find in our stores too. Because I am a local Reedley boy and am picking up my own fruit (instead of using an agent or truck driver), I can pick the farmer that has the best fruit available for that trip. I often walk through the packing sheds with the salesman, tasting and inspecting this variety or that one. I try to get the freshest and best fruit picked and packed that day so that the fruit never sits in cold storage. Since it has not been in cold storage for days or weeks, our produce does not act like most of the fruit you are used to.

A word about proper produce care

This premium fruit cannot be left unattended. It needs a baby-sitter! If you are planning to be gone for several days and cannot personally monitor your fruit daily, then do not order fruit at that time. Wait for a time when you can give your produce the TLC it deserves.

Sometimes our fruit is more ripe and needs to be taken care of immediately. That may include using it faster than you had planned or cutting it up for the freezer. If your fruit is ripe and ready to eat, you can slow down the ripening process by storing it in the fridge. Use a Ziplock-type bag and lay a dry paper towel in it. Put one layer of peaches on this paper towel and seal up the bag. It should keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks and works for other types of fruit besides peaches.

If your fruit is less ripe than you like to eat it, remove it from the box, out of the plastic trays because the moisture can become trapped against the plastic, leading to mold. Patiently store the fruit on the counter or in a paper bag for ripening.

Being flexible enough to make pies or jam or smoothies could salvage the majority of the fruit should it be fully ripe upon delivery. Sometimes our fruit needs a little more time to ripen and you have to be more patient than you had originally planned. Fruit demands flexibility and responsibility. We are also faced with personal preferences; some of you like it more ripe, others want their fruit to last longer on the shelf. We select what we believe is the best fruit available and try to please as many of our customers as we can on each trip.

Our guarantee

The USDA allows farmers a certain percentage of "serious and non-serious" fruit problems in each box of fruit (don't we wish all the fruit was #1 quality?). We do try to select fruit with the least amount of "seconds" (or imperfections) but some are allowable and understandable. Perfect fruit every time in every box for every person is simply not possible.

If you have any comments or complaints about the fruit, please report it to us within one week of delivery so we can make proper adjustments. Our suppliers need this information as soon as possible and not weeks later. If we have not heard from you about your fruit by the next delivery date, we will assume that all is well.

If you are unhappy with your fruit, we will cheerfully refund your money or replace your box of fruit the next time we come up. We want you to be happy with your fruit and we will do our best to please you. We ask that you do your part in caring for this delicious product. Thank you for your orders and, as always, your patience.

Dan & Wanda Doerksen