Corn is done, blueberries will be done soon...

What is left of the sweet corn is not very good.  Still some very good blueberry picking in the middle of the middle patch.  We are going to remain open, as usual, through the Labor Day weekend, including Monday (Labor Day).  We are probably going close halfheartedly on Tuesday.  We can accommodate some "picking by appointment," but we are going to close for open-public-don't-know-who-is-coming-when picking.  We have some fall farm stuff I have kept on hold while we were in the midst of the picking season.

Picking conditions in the middle are still great.

I am still in awe of how great the picking conditions remain. The great picking is in the middle of the large middle patch (where the rows are perpendicular (see, geometry just came in handy) to Klingville Rd). Except for today, there are usually very few pickers out, especially in the mornings, when the grass is still wet and my adolescent pigs are still sleeping. We are definitely remaining open through Labor Day. We will still have sweet corn available this week. Lynn and I processed about 50 ears in about 2 hrs the other evening. Now we have about 10-15 lbs of frozen corn in 2-cup portions (about 20) in our freezer.

Great end to the fundraiser, picking is still very good

Saturday was slow because of a low turnout but Sunday was a banner day and really helped the fundraiser, over $2400 over the weekend, all of which is going to help local food pantries and their other service programs. The picking conditions are still very, very good, in some places excellent. It is still well worth a 2-hr drive if one plans to pick for a couple of hours. If you find the right bushes, you can fill an ice-cream pail (over a gallon, about 6 lbs) in under an hour. Some pickers yesterday were filling 2 pails in an hour. I must eat or day-dream more, because I can never come close to that rate. The SWEET CORN IS READY, too! 3/$1. Pick your own. No sprays were used, which is easy to tell because of all the weeds.

The picking is not what it was a week ago, but it is still better than first-week conditions most years. Please come out this weekend and support local charities that provide for others.

To the blog followers who have FB accounts, you might prefer to "like" our FB version of the farm. Updates there are more frequent.

Tipping Point

I think on Saturday we passed a tipping point.  Reports from pickers was that "the picking was easy," almost too easy.  The near 900-lb harvest yesterday was testimony of the conditions.  Since most of the Sunday pickers were not here yesterday, they might not have noticed, but I did as I perused the patches trying to show newbies where the better picking is (was).  Although a lot of pickers today, the harvest was only half of yesterday.  I think all the "easy" picking is over and now one has to work more to fill a bucket.  Don't get me wrong, the picking is still very good, just not like it has been for the last 2 weeks.  Multiple gallon pails of berries will probably still be a realistic expectation through this week, but I suspect that AFTER the coming weekend, the availability of berries will be noticeably less.  We will still have picking through Labor Day, but the jaw-dropping conditions are over.  Probably still probably worth the trip this week and coming weekend,  if one is looking to fill 2 or 3 pails.

No significant decrease yet...

Posting the picking conditions is strange this year. By now I would be discouraging those coming from far away because of a meager offering. This year, however, is a completely different story (I could get used to this!). If you have already been here this season and come back, you will not be disappointed. If you have not been here yet, you will think it is opening day. Sure, the near-path/road b

ushes have been pretty picked over, but a row or two away from the main paths are still loaded. Pickers are still (as of last night) reporting that it takes an hour (or less) to fill a gallon pail. The berry quality seems better this year as well. Get here early or come late if you want to see the sandhill cranes fly over. Sometimes they land and give a short stump speech.

9 days and still awesome

The picking is still awesome, despite having been open 9 days and some 10,000 lbs of berries have been taken home by multitudes of happy pickers.  This is a picture I took from my cell phone in the afternoon on Saturday, just a random bush.  There are still bushes that have not yet been picked, in those rows that are growing closer together, nearer the tree line.  We should have awesome picking through this coming weekend, then it might become more like we are used to.

 Chickens and seagulls are still eating a lot of berries.  The picking remains quite plentiful.

Normally we discourage the use of heavy equipment in harvesting berries, but we understand that the abundance of this year's crop calls for desperate measures.  So if you careful, bring you loaders.  Max size is D-9.

Picking conditions are still awesome

The picking is still very abundant, so abundant that seagulls have been seeing it and picking their own and, apparently, the chickens here have been eating a lot of blueberries.

We anticipate opening-day-like picking (ice-cream pail in less than an hour) through the weekend.  Weekdays are less crowded.  Early mornings and late evenings are the most pleasant times in terms of temps.  Mornings especially.  If you get here before the sandhill cranes head to the fields (about 7:30 am), you get to listen to their cacophony as they fly over.   Not to mention the normal farm animal sounds.

Hope to see you in the patch...