Summer abundance

It is summer and the stand is full of good food. Blueberries, corn, onions, garlic and so much more. Come and get it.
Organic eggs are back in stock. At the moment they are from young chickens that are just starting to lay so the eggs are small and we are selling two dozen for the price of one.
We were finally able to get a processing slot for two of Mose Yoders organic cows for late August. We should have beef at the stand then.
As a whole crops are doing well in spite of the drought. We have not run out of irrigation water yet. I did shift most of the later plantings of crops like lettuce to the old farm where there is more water available to lighten the load on the well and ponds here. One does what one can and harvests all the bounty that God chooses the bless us with. That said pray for rain- it would be such a relief to have a deep soaking rain!
This applies both in the physical sense and to us as people- we need showers of blessing from above. Daniel

Time for pesto

It is time to make pesto. I have a lots of basil and parsley that needs to be harvested to keep the plants fresh. I can cut a whole tub full (mix or match) of herbs for you for $20 or half a tubful for $10. We have both garlic scapes and fresh bulb garlic to make that pesto complete. Green and yellow beans and new red skin potatoes are waiting for you. Cucumbers are becoming abundant and the first dill heads are ready. Number 1 grade zucchini and summer squash are available by the box at $16 each. The first sweet corn is ready also. Henry grew this corn from plants that he started indoors early in the spring then he covered it with a row cover- these corn plants were babied.
The black raspberries are in there peak season right now. They are giving a bumper crop which amazes me. (I am not a first grader) I was expecting a small crop because of the terrible dry weather. We can use a few more people in the u-pick schedule tomorrow. Daniel

Farmstand and u-pick open July 4 Last u-pick strawberry day

The farm stand and u-pick strawberries will be open on July 4 starting at 7 am. A few highlights in the farm stand that are especially abundant and nice at the moment are cilantro, basil, lettuce, kale spinach and scallions. The first early green cabbage (no red yet) is ready along with the first summer squash and zucchini. I expect the squash prices to drop to summer prices with in the next week or so. We are overstocked on lettuce at the moment and are giving one head free to each customer today and tomorrow. (as supplies last July 3-4). Strawberries are almost over and raspberries are just starting. There is a few rows of the Prelude raspberries that need picked. These are available for u-pick along with strawberries in the morning (July 4). There are still quite a few strawberries out there but they are small and the picking is slow. This is the last regular u-pick strawberry day for 2020. Starting Monday the patch will be in half price self service gleaning status. (same hours as the stand Mon-Sat 12:30- 6 PM) Gleaning status lasts till they not much left then I renovate the patch Daniel

Still more berries U-pick Wednesday July 1

As I walked the fields this evening I was eating strawberries. There are only a few things in this world better than those little very ripe strawberries late in the season. They are so rich flavored and sweet. We are opening tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday July 1) at 2 pm for u-pick and again on Saturday July 4th at 7 am. This is the late part of strawberry season. I am am impressed at how well the patch is holding up. They are small as is normal towards the end of season but some areas have them laying in by the handfuls. These very ripe berries need to be picked in the next day or so or we will lose them. We need many hands to get this task done. Come and help pick.

The picking pattern we are using is a random one to allow for the best possible social distancing. I do not care which patch you pick in or where you start even if it is smack in the middle somewhere. What I do care about is that you give other groups of pickers reasonable space and that wherever you start picking that you pick all the ripe berries that are in the section of row you work. A section of row needs to be either picked clean or it should not be picked at all. Roaming, grazing type picking is not OK. We will be keeping track of which parts of the patch have ripe berries and be helping incoming pickers find good spots throughout the day. Daniel

Lots of berries for u-pick on Monday June 29

We are opening for u-pick strawberries tomorrow morning (Monday June 29) starting at 7 am. This is the later part of berry season There are so many thousands of ripe berries out in the patch that I do not expect to have the patch all picked till late in the day tomorrow but one never knows for sure how many people will come.
The picking pattern we are using is a random one to allow for the best possible social distancing. I do not care which patch you pick in or where you start even if it is smack in the middle somewhere. What I do care about is that you give other groups of pickers reasonable space and that wherever you start picking that you pick all the ripe berries that are in the section of row you work. A section of row needs to be either picked clean or it should not be picked at all. Roaming, grazing type picking is not OK. We will be keeping track of which parts of the patch have ripe berries and be helping incoming pickers find good spots throughout the day.
We did not finish the patch Saturday even though there was a near record amount of berries picked by many hundreds of pickers with people in the patch for the entire day. ( I badly underestimated the patch on Friday) As is normal for the second week of the season the berries are smaller than they are early in the season. There are still some green berries left; the season should last till the 4th of July before gleaning, but the question of how these later berries will size up is still open.
We had a lovely rain shower this afternoon. To give you an idea of how much this means look at these numbers. It gave 6/10 inch x 27,150 gallons per acre inch x 20 acres =325,800 gallons of precious water on a desperately thirsty garden. I hope this is the beginning of more!!
Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, start 2 PM (no morning picking on Wednesdays); Saturday, start 7 AM. This repeats through out the whole season. The patch closes when the berries are all picked or at 6 PM.
When you arrive you do not need to stop at the stand to weigh your containers if you know the empty weight already. Also you do not need to stop if you are picking into standard Quart or gallon containers.

You have the option of bringing your own containers or buying empties from us.(Quart boxes 25 cents each or $20 per hundred. Gallon buckets$2.50 each.)
As you walk out to the patch you will be expected to walk on the right side of the field roads. Same when you are returning. We will do our best to spread groups apart in the field. I expect family/friend groups to stay together as much as is reasonable to allow for social distancing where it matters. NO DOGS in the field or stand areas.
Pricing (u-pick) $3.50 per Quart; $24 for 8 quart tray and $10 for 4 liquid quart buckets, water pitchers, bowls and other similar sized containers. All containers are expected to well filled but not heaped. We will adjust prices up or down as needed for over or under-filled containers. By the pound price is $2/# (limited to bigger containers or larger amounts); By using volume rather than weight when it makes sense we can bypass the stand for most of the berries and reduce congestion. Daniel

Picking info for Saturday June 27 Time corrected

We are opening for u-pick strawberries tomorrow morning (Saturday June 27) starting at 7 am. The previous email I sent had a wrong opening time, ignore that time. This is the later part of berry season (Wednesday was the peak) There are many thousands of ripe berries but the size is running down quickly so containers will fill slower. There are still some green berries left; the season should last at least though next week before gleaning, but the question of how these later berries will size up is still open. We need rain. Irrigation helps a lot but is not the same as a rainy day.
Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, start 2 PM (no morning picking on Wednesdays); Saturday, start 7 AM. This repeats through out the whole season. The patch closes when the berries are all picked or at 6 PM.
When you arrive you do not need to stop at the stand to weigh your containers if you know the empty weight already. Also you do not need to stop if you are picking into standard Quart or gallon containers.
You have the option of bringing your own containers or buying empties from us.(Quart boxes 25 cents each or $20 per hundred. Gallon buckets$2.50 each.)
As you walk out to the patch you will be expected to walk on the right side of the field roads. Same when you are returning. We will do our best to spread groups apart in the field. I expect family/friend groups to stay together as much as is reasonable to allow for social distancing where it matters. NO DOGS in the field or stand areas.
Pricing (u-pick) $3.50 per Quart; $24 for 8 quart tray and $10 for 4 liquid quart buckets, water pitchers, bowls and other similar sized containers. All containers are expected to well filled but not heaped. We will adjust prices up or down as needed for over or under-filled containers. By the pound price is $2/# (limited to bigger containers or larger amounts); By using volume rather than weight when it makes sense we can bypass the stand for most of the berries and reduce congestion. Daniel

Posted by: Daniel Martin at Friday June 26, 2020 02:18 PM EDT Edit Entry (Expires June 26, 2030)

Weblog Entry

We are opening for u-pick strawberries tomorrow morning (Saturday June 27) starting at 7 am. This is the later part of berry season (Wednesday was the peak) There are many thousands of ripe berries but the size is running down quickly so containers will fill slower. There are still some green berries left; the season should last at least though next week before gleaning, but the question of how these later berries will size up is still open. We need rain. Irrigation helps a lot but is not the same as a rainy day.
Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, start 2 PM (no morning picking on Wednesdays); Saturday, start 7 AM. This repeats through out the whole season. The patch closes when the berries are all picked or at 6 PM.
When you arrive you do not need to stop at the stand to weigh your containers if you know the empty weight already. Also you do not need to stop if you are picking into standard Quart or gallon containers.
You have the option of bringing your own containers or buying empties from us.(Quart boxes 25 cents each or $20 per hundred. Gallon buckets$2.50 each.)
As you walk out to the patch you will be expected to walk on the right side of the field roads. Same when you are returning. We will do our best to spread groups apart in the field. I expect family/friend groups to stay together as much as is reasonable to allow for social distancing where it matters. NO DOGS in the field or stand areas.
Pricing (u-pick) $3.50 per Quart; $24 for 8 quart tray and $10 for 4 liquid quart buckets, water pitchers, bowls and other similar sized containers. All containers are expected to well filled but not heaped. We will adjust prices up or down as needed for over or under-filled containers. By the pound price is $2/# (limited to bigger containers or larger amounts); By using volume rather than weight when it makes sense we can bypass the stand for most of the berries and reduce congestion. Daniel

U-pick update for Wednesday June 24

We are opening for u-pick strawberries tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday June 24) starting at 2 PM. NO MORNING PICKING ON WEDNESDAY! Picking conditions are good with an estimated 3,000+ lbs of berries ripe. It looks to me like this is likely to be the peak picking for this season. The size is already dropping off though. There are still a good amount of green berries left; the season should last for another 10 days or so before gleaning but the question of how these later berries will size up is still open. We need rain. Irrigation helps a lot but is not the same as a rainy day.
Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, start 2 PM (no morning picking on Wednesdays); Saturday, start 7 AM. This repeats through out the whole season. The patch closes when the berries are all picked or at 6 PM.
When you arrive you do not need to stop at the stand to weigh your containers if you know the empty weight already. Also you do not need to stop if you are picking into standard Quart or gallon containers.
You have the option of bringing your own containers or buying empties from us.(Quart boxes 25 cents each or $20 per hundred. Gallon buckets$2.50 each.)
As you walk out to the patch you will be expected to walk on the right side of the field roads. Same when you are returning. We will do our best to spread groups apart in the field. I expect family/friend groups to stay together as much as is reasonable to allow for social distancing where it matters. NO DOGS in the field or stand areas.
Pricing (u-pick) $3.50 per Quart; $24 for 8 quart tray and $10 for 4 liquid quart buckets, water pitchers, bowls and other similar sized containers. All containers are expected to well filled but not heaped. We will adjust prices up or down as needed for over or under-filled containers. By the pound price is $2/# (limited to bigger containers or larger amounts); By using volume rather than weight when it makes sense we can bypass the stand for most of the berries and reduce congestion. Daniel

U-pick update for Monday June 22

We are opening for u-pick strawberries tomorrow morning (Monday June 22) starting at 7 AM. This heat is ripening them fast. Picking conditions will be very good with an estimated 3,000 + lbs of berries ripe. If I am reading my patch right this week will be the peak week and it looks to me like the conditions are set to have an intense, short strawberry season.
Will we have picked berries on the stand tomorrow? We will be picking what we can and I expect intermittent availability of picked berries at the stand.. The chances of having lots of picked berries at the stand for purchase is much higher on Tuesday afternoon when we are not dealing with u-pick. The price for picked berries is $6.50 per quart or $40 for 8 quarts (when supply allows)

There are some changes to allow for better social distancing-* read this information all the way through.* During busy times there will be an outside express checkout option for berries that are being bought by volume.
Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, start 2 PM (no morning picking on Wednesdays); Saturday, start 7 AM. This repeats through out the whole season. The patch closes when the berries are all picked or at 6 PM.
When you arrive you do not need to stop at the stand to weigh your containers if you know the empty weight already. Also you do not need to stop if you are picking into standard Quart or gallon containers.
You have the option of bringing your own containers or buying empties from us.(Quart boxes 25 cents each or $20 per hundred. Gallon buckets$2.50 each.)
As you walk out to the patch you will be expected to walk on the right side of the field roads. Same when you are returning. We will do our best to spread groups apart in the field. I expect family/friend groups to stay together as much as is reasonable to allow for social distancing where it matters. NO DOGS in the field or stand areas.
Pricing (u-pick) $3.50 per Quart; $24 for 8 quart tray and $10 for 4 liquid quart buckets, water pitchers, bowls and other similar sized containers. All containers are expected to well filled but not heaped. We will adjust prices up or down as needed for over or under-filled containers. By the pound price is $2/# (limited to bigger containers or larger amounts); By using volume rather than weight when it makes sense we can bypass the stand for most of the berries and reduce congestion. Daniel

Open for u-pick Saturday June 20

We are opening for u-pick strawberries tomorrow morning (Saturday June 20) starting at 7 AM. This heat is ripening them fast. Picking conditions will be very good with an estimated 2-3,000 lbs of berries ripe. This is an unusually quick start during a year that is unusual in many ways.

There are some changes to allow for better social distancing-* read this information all the way through.* During busy times there will be an outside express checkout option for berries that are being bought by volume.
Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, start 2 PM (no morning picking on Wednesdays); Saturday, start 7 AM. This repeats through out the whole season. The patch closes when the berries are all picked or at 6 PM.
When you arrive you do not need to stop at the stand to weigh your containers if you know the empty weight already. Also you do not need to stop if you are picking into standard Quart or gallon containers.
You have the option of bringing your own containers or buying empties from us.(Quart boxes 25 cents each or $20 per hundred. Gallon buckets$2.50 each.)
As you walk out to the patch you will be expected to walk on the right side of the field roads. Same when you are returning. We will do our best to spread groups apart in the field. I expect family/friend groups to stay together as much as is reasonable to allow for social distancing where it matters. NO DOGS in the field or stand areas.
Pricing (u-pick) $3.50 per Quart; $24 for 8 quart tray and $10 for 4 liquid quart buckets, water pitchers, bowls and other similar sized containers. All containers are expected to well filled but not heaped. We will adjust prices up or down as needed for over or under-filled containers. By the pound price is $2/# (limited to bigger containers or larger amounts); By using volume rather than weight when it makes sense we can bypass the stand for most of the berries and reduce congestion. Daniel