It was a long winter and it took a little while for spring to get going. There will be berries, lots of berries if things continue to develop the way they have so far this year. But not yet, they are running a bit later than we have come to expect. We will update the web site and change the phone number as soon as they are nice and blue and ready to be picked. Looking forward to seeing all our friends, new and old here on the farm before the end of June.
From time to time we get asked, why are you organic? The following link to an article in the Atlantic is one of the reasons. http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/the-toxins-that-threaten-our-brains/284466/
No nasty chemicals get sprayed or spread on the plants that we grow. We like to think that we are doing our part to make the world just a little bit safer for all our neighbors. We think that this year we may have an exceptional crop hope to see you all in June.
We called it a season today and took down our sales tent and put it away until next year. Thanks to those of you who came out and picked in 2013. We had the smallest crop we have had in ten years and are making some adjustments to our fertility program and will continue to work with our plants in hopes that next year we will see a dramatic improvement. Farming is always a challenge and some years are more challenging than others. This year took the prize for disappointment. See you next year.
The mid and late season berries have begun to ripen. Please join us on the farm first thing Saturday for limited picking. We will open the gate to the lower fields at 8am and will be open until 2pm or until the berries are gone. We will post a new message here when we close and change the phone message at 240 324 6110 when the berries have all been picked. Here is hoping for more lovely weather.
Just came across this article and thought it might be of interest to some of you. Choosing organic is not just about eating healthier produce, it is about supporting farming practices that benefit all of nature.
Scientists Discover What’s Killing the Bees and It’s Worse Than You Thought
Folks keep asking when we might reopen. If my morning granola is any indication (with peaches and bananas, no blueberries) we are now operating a bird breakfast bar and they are not interested in sharing. Our historically low fruit set means that there just aren’t enough berries in the patch to be open. We remain optimistic that the situation may change in the weeks ahead but it is looking more and more like we are closing in on saying “see you next year”.
An early morning walk of the patch was really pretty depressing. Lots of lovely birds but very few berries. So our intention to be open has run afoul of Mother Nature. We will see about getting up the bird netting and see what happens. Please check back for updates and further inaccurate predictions.
The weather for our area has been has been trending a bit cooler than usual and our mid-season varieties have been slow to ripen. Robert walked the patch earlier today and reports that we have 30 to 50 quarts of berries ready to pick. You will need to walk a little further and search a little longer but there are excellent berries to be found. We don’t have an enormous amount so come early (opening at 9am) and get a pint or several quarts before they are all gone.
Our wonderful early season berries are now done for the season. We are anxiously awaiting the ripening of the mid-season varieties and hope they will provide us with a large enough crop to satisfy the demand from our many loyal customers. Check back over the coming weeks to find out when we might reopen for picking.
You might think that after all these years we would have developed a really reliable method of predicting how many berries and when, but we have not. One of the challenges to the farming thing is all the 1000’s of factors that affect the result, so predicting is hard. This week we have been telling lots of people that we will have ripe berries and be open on Saturday at 8am. We will be here but we are now letting everyone know that there really aren’t enough of the early season berries out in the patch to make the trip worth your time and effort. We have mid and late season varieties that will ripen in the weeks ahead–please check back to see whether and when we will be open. Have a lovely weekend.
