U-pick July 3

We will open for u-pick berries tomorrow Monday July 3, 2023 starting at 7 am for the second to last picking for this year. We plan to only be open for an hour or so tomorrow morning and pick the areas that have a reasonable amount of ripe berries. After that the market will be closed for the rest of Monday. The stand will be open on Tuesday July 4th. I just returned from a stroll through the strawberry fields. The berries are mostly small and I judge that there are more berries that will be ready for Wednesday than there are for Monday. Some of the earliest areas are near finished. There are still some green berries yet on the later kinds. The patch will go to gleaning status after Wednesday. Gleaning status goes on as long as there are berries out there and is open anytime during normal stand hours. Prices are reduced for gleaning.
The early red raspberries are ready to pick. They are available on a first come basis during normal strawberry u-pick times. After strawberry season the raspberries will be available for u-pick on a first come basis on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday starting @ 10 am.
Cucumbers and zucchini are becoming abundant so those prices will drop to normal summer prices starting now. Daniel

U-pick July 1st

We will open for u-pick berries tomorrow Saturday July 1 2023 starting at 7 am. We are coming toward the late part of strawberry season. The berries are ripening fast now but they are mostly small so containers fill slowly this year. Some of the earliest areas are near finished. There are still some green berries yet on the later kinds. I expect the patch will go to gleaning status at some point next week- probably after next Wednesday.
The early red raspberries are ready to pick. They are available on a first come basis during normal strawberry u-pick times. After strawberry season the raspberries will be available for u-pick on a first come basis on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday starting @ 10 am.
We have both snap (edible pod) and shell peas now along with the first new potatoes. Zucchini and cucumbers are abundant. Today we planted about an acre of late potatoes (by hand) along with late beans, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach and more. Yes, the strawberry patches are open even if it is raining. Daniel

Weblog Entry

We will open for u-pick strawberries this afternoon June 28, 2023 at 2 pm. No morning picking today. We are coming toward the late part of peak strawberry season. Today has the potential to be the peak picking of the year. The berries are ripening fast now but they are mostly small so containers fill slowly this year. I expect the patch will go to gleaning status at some point next week. The first of the red raspberries are ready to pick. They are available on a first come basis during normal strawberry u-pick times. After strawberry season the raspberries will be available for u-pick on a first come basis on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday starting @ 10 am. The field zucchini season has begun.They are available at normal summer prices. We are picking the first of the peas. Greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers are at their peak production and this abundant moisure makes really nice lettuce. Picked strawberries are still extreemly scarce. The black raspberries are still 2 weeks out- the plants have a wonderful fruit set like a seed catalogue picture and with the rain it has the potential to be one of the biggest crops ever. Blueberry fruit set is also excellent. Daniel

Upick Monday

We will open for u-pick strawberries tomorrow morning Monday June 26, 2023. This is the peak of strawberry season. That said I have seen much higher peaks than this year has. I just returned from walking the patches. There is a nice amount of berries out there with picking conditions somewhere in the middle- not terrible or wonderful. I judge that this will just be the way it is this year as the total crop is limited.
Saturdays picking totaled about 800 lbs. To put this in perspective 3000 to 4,500 lbs would be more normal for a Saturday during peak strawberry season. The produce auction has been having less than 10% of the normal strawberry volume so most of the strawberry growers have been effected as much or more than we have. So be patient with us if you are getting less than you wish for. I have 8,000 new plants started so next year has potential as we are doing our part. Daniel

We are open for u-pick Saturday rain or shine

We will open for u-pick strawberries tomorrow morning Saturday, June 24, 2023. The strawberries do not care if it is raining so rain or shine the patch is open till it is picked. From now through next week is the peak of strawberry season. That said I have seen much higher peaks than this year has. I just returned from walking the patches. There is a nice amount of berries out there with picking conditions somewhere in the middle- not terrible or wonderful. I judge that this will just be the way it is this year as the total crop is limited. Daniel

U-pick Strawberries Wednesday

We will open the strawberry patch for u-pick tomorrow afternoon June 21,2023 starting at 2 pm. There is NO Morning picking tomorrow. I just returned from walking through the strawberry patch. I am seeing quite a lot of ripe berries through out the whole patch. Picking conditions will be fairly good (considering the year) I estimate that we can pick 1,200- 1,800 quarts tomorrow. After tomorrow the next u-pick is Saturday morning. Peak season is between now and the end of next week.

Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, starting 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 buy empties from us. Quart boxes 25 cents each. If you are buying empty containers from us please pay when you get them rather than after you are done picking to minimize confusion as to what is going on.
NO DOGS in the field or stand areas. We will be using the same random picking pattern that we did last year. This means that you may start anyplace you wish in the patches that are open as long as you are not cutting in front of someone. It is mandatory that when you are picking that all the ripe berries are picked as you move No roaming or grazing type picking. A section of row must either be picked or not picked when you leave. We will be scouting the patch and keep suggesting where you will find good picking.
Pricing u-pick: $4 per Quart if less than 8 quarts and $3.25 per quart if more than 8 quarts; $26 for an 8 quart tray and $12.50 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 $2.20/# (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. If you pay by credit card there is a 3% surcharge added to the above prices and you will need to use the inside checkout station rather than outside express options. Daniel

U-pick info for Monday June 19

We will open the strawberry patches for u-pick tomorrow morning (June 19, 2023) starting @ 7 am. This is still the beginning of the season. The berries are nice but you will travel quite a bit of row and also look at a lot of green tip berries. I estimate that there may be 400-500 quarts to pick in the morning. I judge that it is likely that we will close the patch to incoming pickers about 8 am. The farm stand will be open in the morning only as long as we are there for u-pick customers. It will then be closed for the rest of the day. We are closed on Mondays this summer except for strawberry mornings. The farmstand is open Tuesday- Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm. The garlic scapes are ready so enjoy them during the few weeks that their season lasts.

Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, starting 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. Daniel

Strawberry u-pick update

We plan to open the strawberry patch for the first u-pick picking of the season tomorrow morning (June 17,2023) @ 7 am. This is an unusual strawberry season. We had a 30 degree night about a month ago when the strawberries were just starting to bloom. This freeze damaged a lot of the earliest flowers. The berries that are ripening now are from the flowers that were open at that time that survived and set fruit. Right now I estimate that there are a few hundred quarts of ripe berries out there. They are fairly nice but expect to travel quite a lot of row for a fairly small harvest. Mondays picking will also be very light. There is a fairly large amount of very green berries on the plants that I estimate to be 7- 14 days out from ripening yet. There is almost nothing that is 3-5 days out on the plants so the next few pickings have little potential. There are still flowers also so it looks to me like this will be a very spread out strawberry year with potential to still be picking into early July. There will be very few or no prepicked berries to purchase at the farm stand tomorrow. I am delighted with this cooler rainy weather. The majority of the strawberry crop for this year is still very green and is being greatly benefited by the rain and cool. God’s rain is superior to mans irrigation. I have been growing strawberries in this area since 1998. This is our 25th year- a quarter of a century.

Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, starting 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. Daniel

Tomatoes, Lettuce, Cucumbers and u-cut Flowers.

Field lettuce is coming on at full strengh- there is various red and green leafy lettuces along with romaine and summercrisp types. My daughter thinks a field of lettuce ready to harvest is like a work of art. It is beautiful. We are somewhat overstocked on cucumbers at the moment. The tomatoes are slow but we are picking the first few forerunners of the coming abundance we expect from our greenhouse. I just recieved 90 lbs of beautiful red tomatoes from Nathen Zimmermans greenhouse which are at the stand today. This is the last week of asparagus harvest. Strawberries are just starting. The supply this week is very limited because we lost a signifigant amount of the earliest flowers to the freeze a while back. Next week strawberry supply should be more normal. Cool rainy weather now is excellent for the strawberries to grow big and sweet . We plan to open for u-pick starting Saturday.
We have free u-cut flowers this summer as we have in the past. I planted a bigger patch too! Mostly they are still little yet however there are poppies and wildflowers out there now. Daniel

2023 strawberry Information

Strawberry is season here. There are a few ripe berries in the field now so we are picking for the stand starting today. (We have about 50 quarts picked at the moment) We had a freeze a while back that damaged quite a few (but not all) of the earliest flowers so the season is beginning in an unusual way in that there is just a scattering of berries that are ripe now. I am going to send our own pickers out to get them as they are so scattered. The strawberries like it slightly cool and are really glad for this rain. Irrigation is not as good as rain. Hot weather ripens them faster but does not give as good of a berry.
We are opening for the first u-pick picking of the season Saturday June 17, 2023 starting at 7 am. I expect that picking conditions should be reasonable by Saturday however I will post again Friday about picking conditions when I know more. Peak season is still 7- 10 days out. Strawberry pricing for 2023 is the same as last years prices.
We will be continuing many of the changes from last year as they worked well. During busy times there will be an outside express checkout option for berries that are being bought by volume not weight.

Hours for u-pick are Monday starting at 7 AM; Wednesday, starting 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 buy empties from us. Quart boxes 25 cents each. If you are buying empty containers from us please pay when you get them rather than after you are done picking to minimize confusion as to what is going on.
NO DOGS in the field or stand areas. We will be using the same random picking pattern that we did last year. This means that you may start anyplace you wish in the patches that are open as long as you are not cutting in front of someone. It is mandatory that when you are picking that all the ripe berries are picked as you move No roaming or grazing type picking. A section of row must either be picked or not picked when you leave. We will be scouting the patch and keep suggesting where you will find good picking.
Pricing u-pick: $4 per Quart if less than 8 quarts and $3.25 per quart if more than 8 quarts; $26 for an 8 quart tray and $12.50 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 $2.20/# (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. If you pay by credit card there is a 3% surcharge added to the above prices and you will need to use the inside checkout station rather than outside express options. Daniel