Apple Orchard near Lombard Loop Area, Washington. Photo by Lance Johnson, Yakima, Washington.

Apple Orchard near Lombard Loop Area, Washington. Photo by Lance Johnson, Yakima, Washington.

Ramon Lopez with the May 1, 2015, issue of Good Fruit Grower, which featured him picking cherries in Mosier, Oregon. Photo by Paloma Ayala

Ramon Lopez with the May 1, 2015, issue of Good Fruit Grower, which featured him picking cherries in Mosier, Oregon. Photo by Paloma Ayala

The incredible, intricate sequence that takes the harvest from picker to packer has begun once again—of course, for some crops it’s already finished—and the signs are abundant throughout my home here in the Yakima Valley.

Mighty trucks loaded with bins rumble along the roads, packing house parking lots fill quickly in the early morning, and orchard after orchard goes from fruitful to fruitless in the space of a few days.

I feel fortunate to live in orchard country. And it’s easy to see why in the beautiful image from photographer Lance Johnson that appears on the cover of our August Harvest issue.

I love how rows of trees stretch across the landscape here. They are testaments to the hard work that so many growers and workers go through each season, to bring us an abundant harvest year after year.

You’ve seen Lance’s work on a few of our covers recently—another orchard shot on our April 1 issue and all those peaches on our July issue. And we have another of his shots coming up in October. (Yes, we love this guy’s work!) You can find more of his photos at Image West Photography, imagewestusa.com.

Speaking of great shots, we were so glad to hear from photographer Paloma Ayala, who took the photo on the cover of our May 1 issue featuring Ramon Lopez Santiago picking cherries in Mosier, Oregon.

Paloma met up with Ramon again this season and snapped this shot of him holding the very issue with him on the cover. Many thanks to Paloma and Ramon for sharing this fun photo. Paloma, who lives in Hood River, has more of her photographs available at www.fotoisphoto.com.

We’re soon going to be doing our own “picking” here at Good Fruit Grower headquarters as we pick our selections for upcoming covers.

We’ve received some outstanding submissions already, but we always welcome more. You can find more details here. We really enjoy the great work these talented artists and photographers bring to each issue. And we know you do, too.