Pear orchards gear up for the big pick

TALENT, Ore. -- The staff at Meyer's Pear Orchard will be starting their annual pear harvest, Monday.

Although the picking is right around the corner, this year the harvest is more than a week later than previous years and owner, Ron Meyer said this year's weather did not help his crop.

"Typically we start within two to three days of the 20th," Meyer said. "Generally we can always plan on it but this year with the cold spring and the cool summer except for a few days, we are ten days later than what we would call normal."

This year all of Meyer's Bartlett pears will be sent to the canneries.

Meyer said the damage from the spring frost and the recent hail storms won't make them suitable for grocery stores.

Despite weather setbacks, he said the crop still looks good and overall they are thankful it wasn't worse.