Hooray, it is officially fall now! Our favorite season here at the farm. We can’t wait for you to come out and see, smell, touch, taste, listen, and immerse yourself in the farm. Here are some of the things our customers have told us about this season:

• “Love seeing the orange pumpkins lined up across the parking lot.”
• “It smells like grape jelly when we drive by–love that smell.”
• “My granddaughter loves touching the bumpy gourds.”
• “Thank you for letting us taste your apples before we buy them.”
• “Wow, the shrieks of joy from my son coming down your big slide!”

Happenings on the farm this weekend you should check out:

• U-pick apples with lots of varieties to choose from opens Saturday. *See info below
• U-pick pumpkin patch opens Saturday (our first time trying this). *See info below
• U-pick white Niagara grapes open on Sunday. *See info below
• Fall donut flavors, pumpkin cupcakes, apple dumplings & more in the bakery
• Tour and tasting of our brandies, wines and hard ciders from 1 – 3 on Saturday
• Our driveway overflowing with squash and more squash–special bushel pricing available!
• And of course, all of our usual market offerings including freshly squeezed apple cider.
• Our “small children’s” sunflower maze, and if we can finish it, possibly our large corn maze with a new theme for 2016!
• We’ve set up great places to take family photos–especially for Michigan State and U of M fans!  A huge thanks to Peggy and Teri for all of the fall decorations around the farm—they look beautiful!

Here’s what we have at the market now:

• Apples–See list available below:**
• Eggplant–3 different sizes
• Fall Ornamentals:  Gourds, pumpkins, corn of all colors
• Fresh Cut or “Cut Your Own” Herbs. 
• Fresh Dug Potatoes: Yukon Gold and Red Norland
  • If you want potatoes by the bushel they are $25, this is about 50 pounds or more
• Field Tomatoes, still have bushels
• Grapes: Fredonia…very similar to Concord but earlier, as well as White Niagara
• Mums
• Pears–Bosc  This is a beautiful, large, firm, sweet pear, that keeps very well.  
• Peppers (so many sizes, colors and tastes!)
• Onions–We are now bagging them in the red mesh bags
• Shallots
• Specialty Onions: Red Torpedo Tropea, Red Marble Cippolini, and Borrettana Cippolini are in. These are incredible for cooking or roasting
• Winter Squash–Butternut, Buttercup, Acorn, Delicata, Hearts of Gold, Turk’s Turbin
• Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Spaghetti Squash
• Watermelon: Seeded, we think they have more flavor than the seedless ones!

Becca’s certified organic produce: Kale, Lettuce, Eggplant, Slicer Tomatoes, Basil, Bunching Onions, Super Sweet Snacking Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Poblano (Ancho) Peppers, and Personal Cabbage. Some of this is in limited quantities so please call ahead and place an order if you want any of these items.  

The bakery staff was pretty happy about seeing Cortland apples and Northern Spy apples come in, their favorites for baking dumplings and pie respectively! Bakery offerings for the weekend will be: 

• Cookies: Frosted Sugar Cut Outs, Caramel Apple, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Triple Berry, Peanut Butter, and Ginger Molasses.
• Pies: Apple, Dutch Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Pecan, Peach, Pumpkin, and Strawberry Rhubarb.
• Apple Dumplings
• Bread: Whole Wheat, Honey Oat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns, Hot Dog Buns, and Focaccia Bread. We are partnering with La Brea Bakery on the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Rosemary Olive Oil, Roasted Garlic Loaf.
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Mini Cupcakes and our special Pumpkin Cupcakes (Beth’s favorite!)
• Slushies: Concord/Niagara Grape Blend and our own Apple Cider
• Muffins: Double Dutch Chocolate, Cherry Almond, Pistachio, Wild Berry, Lemon Poppy Seed, Raisin Bran, and Banana Nut
• Donuts: We will have our Apple, Pumpkin, and Buttermilk Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We also have our Chocolate Iced Yeast Donuts as well as Bavarian Cream-Filled Long Johns, Raspberry-Filled Bismarks and Apple Fritters!

Local Products: We try to offer as many local and Michigan made products as we can, including meat, yogurt, cards, artwork, honey, maple syrup, pecan brittle, and cashew brittle.

Brandy and Hard Cider:

Made right here, we have Blueberry, Sweet, Strawberry, Dry, Peck of Peppers, Preach (Pear/Peach), Crop Rotation (Barrel-Aged), and Hopped Hard Ciders for sale. We are down to the last thirty bottles of Strawberry Cider. If anyone is a huge fan, get it this weekend! We also have Peach Polecat, Black Cherry Polecat, Cherry Wine, Kaiser Cyser, and Tart Cherry Hard Cider in 750mL bottles, and our usual line of brandies made exclusively from estate-grown produce, including our ever-popular oak-aged apple brandy. Come try any of these at our free tasting sessions, Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Happenings on the farm this week: We picked apples, then pumpkins, then squash, then pears, back to tomatoes and repeated that over and over….We bagged apples, we washed pumpkins and squash….and repeated. We washed, cored, peeled apples and cut them up for pies, and repeated, often! We bottled hard cider, we labeled, we stocked the shelves, and repeated into the wee hours of the morning. We answered the phone, hundreds of you calling about grapes.  We counted the many bins of apples that poured in from the orchard which got stacked high in the cold storage and started to truly understand that we have a bumper crop of some varieties.  So, we spent some time thinking about how to have our customers take advantage of some of these—stay tuned for some great specials coming on some varieties.

We made cider a day early as we ran out from our first pressing. So our shelves are full again. This week’s blend is:  Honeycrisp, Gala, MacIntosh, Fuji, Cortland, and JonAMac– a nice blend of tart and sweet apples. We concluded our cider mill press just doesn’t like having a Mollie’s Delicious go through it (a very large apple) so we are making those apple “seconds” available for “animal apples” for customers at $5 a bushel, just ask for them.

**More varieties of apples came in this week:

• Cortland: A hint of tartness makes this a great baking variety, A descendent of the McIntosh, this variety is a bit sweeter than its ancestor. Juices really well (very few left).
• Jonathan: Pretty and popular, used for fresh eating and cooking, a favorite for apple butter and taffy apples.
• Northern Spy: The professional baker’s dream, cooks up well in applesauce, pie and other dishes. Stores well, easy to remember by saying:  Spy’s for pies. We are currently using it in our pies in the bakery.
• Red Delicious: (Picking 9-23) America’s most popular apple “back in the day.” Best for fresh eating and snacks. Full-flavored sweet taste.
• Early Fuji: Fantastic sweet and tart flavor, with a low acid content, an incredibly good keeper. Stays for weeks without being refrigerated.
• Golden Delicious: Picking 9-23. A gingery-smooth, sweet taste under a thin skin. It’s the most popular yellow apple, good eaten fresh, baked or cut in salads.

We still have:

• Mollie’s Delicious is a large, sweet eating apple. It is a late summer apple which we will only have a short time.
• Gala is a great eating and cooking apple. It has a crisp snappy bite over a mellow sweetness.
• Jon-A-Mac: This is a good cooking or eating apple.  It has all of the best qualities of a Jonathan apple and a McIntosh. A favorite for apple sauce.
• Macintosh: gone for the season, sorry
• JonaGold: Superbly crisp and juicy with shades of tart and sweet in each apple, very large and aromatic.  Cross between a Jonathan and Golden Delicious
• Honeycrisp: This seems to be many people’s favorite. It is crisp with an excellent sweet flavor and a “bite” to it.  Great for eating fresh or using in salads. We will have some this weekend, sold by the pound only ($2/lb.).
• Nu-Red: Crisp, tart, hard, crunchy apple, an improved version of a Red Rome.

Apple Pricing for the year: with the exception of a few special varieties (like Honeycrisp) all the apples will be: $24 a bushel**, $13 a half-bushel, $7.50 a peck (1/4 of a bushel), $5 a half-peck, $3 a 1/4 peck and $1.00 a pound. **When we have bushels available. The price is the same for picked apples or u-pick apples.

• We have a good crop of apples and have made a forecast on when we think the varieties will be ready. We have copies of this on the market or you can continue to check back on our website where we will keep it updated. Please click here to view this: http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/2016-apple-information/.

*U-Pick apples will open September 24th and be available during our normal hours of 8 to 6 (must be out of the orchard by 5:45).  You will be driving to the orchards–so when you arrive, please have one person come into the market to get directions and information and you’ll be on your way. (We’ve seen very unhappy children who get out of the car excited to pick, only to have to return to the car and drive to the orchard!). The varieties you can pick this weekend are:

• Red Delicious
• Golden Delicious
• Cortland
• Jonathan
• Ida Red
• Mutsu
• Northern Spy
• These 3 apples have been open for a few weeks so you may  find a few left if you really want this variety—or you can purchase them at the market (we’ve had them in cold storage)
  • Gala
  • Mollie’s Delicious
  • JonaMac

*Grape Update:

•  White Niagara grapes will open on Sunday September 25 for the season. (This variety is always ready earlier than the Concords)
• Purple Concord grapes will open one week later, on Sunday October 2.
• We have plenty of both colors of grapes. If you want to pick both kinds of grapes you should wait to come until after October 2.
• Grape Availability: We expect to have Concord grapes up until the first frost. We hope to have Niagara grapes until mid-October, but it will depend on how many people come out to pick and how fast they go.

If you are coming to pick grapes, please bring clippers, scissors, 5 gallon buckets and small wagons if you have them.  Some of our rows are very long!

• Pricing will be the same as last year: U-Pick Pricing for both color grapes is the following, please note we sell them by the pound, and consider a five-gallon pail or a 1/2 bushel basket to be 20 pounds.
  • 40 cents a pound for 20 pounds or less, 1 five-gallon bucket or a ½ bushel= $8
  • 21 to 100 pounds: 35 cents pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel = $7
  • Over 100 pounds; 25 cents pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel=$5

Picked grapes: We are taking orders for bushels of picked grapes both white Niagara and purple Concord, they are $26 a bushel, $14 half bushel, please call the market at 269-244-5690 to order them.

*U-Pick Pumpkins: Okay, you’ve asked for this, so we’re trying it this weekend.  Check in at the market first for directions….and do remember this is a real pumpkin patch where there will no doubt be some mud, a few weeds, some poky pumpkin vines—so dress accordingly for the experience!

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn has a way or capturing all of your senses when you come to the farm. Brightly colored winter squash, pumpkins gourds and mums coming in. A wonderful feel to the air from the cooler nights. And each day, the grape aroma gets stronger, truly the best smell of fall ever.

More varieties of apples are coming in! Here’s what we have at the market right now.  Apples are running about one week to 10 days ahead of their normal annual schedule due to the weather…so the season is moving fast.

• Mollie’s Delicious is a large, sweet eating apple. It is a late summer apple which we will only have a short time.
• Gala is a great eating and cooking apple. It has a crisp snappy bite over a mellow sweetness.
• Jon-A-Mac: This is a good cooking or eating apple.  It has all of the best qualities of a Jonathan apple and a McIntosh.  A favorite for apple sauce.
• Earli-blaze: This is a good cooking or eating apple, and it particularly makes a wonderful apple pie. We sell this apple to bakeries (including our own) for apple pie. (These apples are specially priced at $20 a bushel)
• Macintosh: This is a soft, white fleshed apple, very popular for baking and applesauce. (Note we are almost sold out of these for the year….call us to save them for you.)
• JonaGold: Superbly crisp and juicy with shades of tart and sweet in each apple, very large and aromatic.  Cross between a Jonathan and Golden Delicious
• Honeycrisp: This seems to be many people’s favorite. It is crisp with an excellent sweet flavor and a “bite” to it.  Great for eating fresh or using in salads. We will have some this weekend, sold by the pound only ($2/lb.).
• Nu-Red: Crisp, tart, hard, crunchy apple, an improved version of a Red Rome.

Apple Pricing for the year: with the exception of a few special varieties (like Honeycrisp) all the apples will be: $24 a bushel**, $13 a half-bushel, $7.50 a peck (1/4 of a bushel), $5 a half-peck, $3 a 1/4 peck and $1.00 a pound. **When we have bushels available. The price is the same for picked apples or u-pick apples.

• We have a good crop of apples and have made a forecast on when we think the varieties will be ready. We have copies of this on the market or you can continue to check back on our website where we will keep it updated. Please click here to view this: http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/2016-apple-information/.

U-Pick apples will open again soon when more varieties are ready.  We anticipate this might happen next weekend, September 24th. Check back with us.

Grape Update:

By the number of calls we are getting, we know that everyone is anxious to come and pick grapes and it is one of our favorite times of the year too.  A sugar sample of the both Concord and Niagara grapes was taken on 9-13 and was extremely low, meaning the grapes do not have their sweetness yet. It is important to us and to our customers to have grapes at a sugar content/sweetness that will be optimal for making juice, jelly, wine, etc. With this information at hand and looking ahead at the weather, here are the decisions we have made for when the grapes will be ready for picking.

 

• White Niagara grapes will open on Sunday September 25^th for the season. (This variety is always ready earlier than the Concords)
• Purple Concord grapes will open one week later, on Sunday October 2^nd.
• We have plenty of both colors of grapes. If you want to pick both kinds of grapes you should wait to come until after October 2^nd.
• Grape Availability:  We expect to have Concord grapes up until the first frost. We hope to have Niagara grapes until mid-October, but it will depend on how many people come out to pick and how fast they go.

If you are coming to pick grapes, please bring clippers, scissors, 5 gallon buckets and small wagons if you have them.  Some of our rows are very long!

• Pricing will be the same as last year: U-Pick Pricing for both color grapes is the following, please note we sell them by the pound, and consider a five-gallon pail or a 1/2 bushel basket to be 20 pounds.
  • 40 cents a pound for 20 pounds or less, 1 five-gallon bucket or a ½ bushel= $8
  • 21 to 100 pounds: 35 cents pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel = $7
  • Over 100 pounds; 25 cents pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel=$5

Picked grapes: We are taking orders for bushels of picked grapes both white Niagara and purple Concord, they are $26 a bushel, $14 half bushel, please call the market at 269-244-5690 to order them.

Bartlett pears: The Bartlett pear is a good eating and canning pear, very sweet and juicy.  We still have some left but this will probably be the last weekend. Pricing is $29 a bushel, $15 a half bushel, and we also have them in eating size quantities. 

Tomatoes: 

• We still have tomatoes…
•  “Firsts” Tomatoes are $19 a bushel or $10 a half bushel.
• “Seconds” Tomatoes (have blemishes or are misshapen) are $14 a bushel… This is great for making sauce, juice or salsa.
• U-Pick Tomatoes are now open and can be picked for $15 a bushel. Please check in at the market for directions and containers.
• How long will they last? We say up until the first frost, but don’t wait much longer.

Here’s what we have at the market now:

• Apples–Earli-blaze, Gala, Mollie’s Delicious, Jon A Mac, Jon A Gold, McIntosh, Nu-Red and Honeycrisp
• Brussels Sprouts
• Eggplant–3 different sizes
• Fall Ornamentals:  Gourds and pumpkins of all colors
• Fresh Cut or “Cut Your Own” Herbs. 
• Fresh Dug Potatoes: Yukon Gold, Red Norland and Adirondack Blue
  • If you want potatoes by the bushel they are $25, this is about 50 pounds or more
• Field Tomatoes
• Grapes:  Fredonia…very similar to Concord but earlier
• Mums
• Pears
• Peppers (so many sizes, colors and tastes!)  Check out our chocolate habanero!
• Onions–We are now bagging them in the red mesh bags
• Shallots
• Specialty Onions: Red Torpedo Tropea, Red Marble Cippolini, and Borrettana Cippolini are in. These are incredible for cooking or roasting
• Winter Squash–Butternut, Buttercup, Acorn, Delicata, Hearts of Gold
• Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Spaghetti Squash
• Watermelon: Seeded, we think they have more flavor than the seedless ones!

Becca’s certified organic produce: Kale, Lettuce, Eggplant, Slicer Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Bunching Onions, Super Sweet Snacking Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Poblano (Ancho) Peppers, and Personal Cabbage. Some of this is in limited quantities so please call ahead and place an order if you want any of these items. This will probably be the last weekend for cherry tomatoes, including Becca’s delicious yellow sungolds!

Bakery Update: Look for our “take and bake” pies for you to stock up on in your freezer (for you to indulge in or keep to share for the holidays). If you cannot find them, please ask and we will get them for you!  As we work to stock up, please feel free to special order and we can get them ready. “Take and bake” pie choices are all large-9″ pies and available flavors are: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Cherry Berry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb.

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Frosted Sugar Cut Outs, Caramel Apple, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Triple Berry, Peanut Butter, and Ginger Molasses.
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Pear, Peach and Strawberry Rhubarb.
• Bread: Whole Wheat, Honey Oat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns, Hot Dog Buns, and Focaccia Bread. We are partnering with La Brea Bakery on the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Rosemary Olive Oil, Roasted Garlic Loaf.
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Mini Cupcakes
• Slushies: Concord and Niagara Grape Blend and Our Own Apple Cider
• Muffins: Double Dutch Chocolate, Cherry Almond, Pistachio, Wild Berry, Lemon Poppy Seed, Raisin Bran, and Banana Nut
• Donuts: We will have our Apple, Pumpkin, and Buttermilk Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday,  and Sunday.   We also have our Chocolate Iced Yeast Donuts as well as Bavarian Cream-Filled Long Johns, Raspberry-Filled Bismarks and Apple Fritters!

Local Products: We try to offer as many local and Michigan made products as we can.

• Meat from Mill Lake Farms, http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/other-products/mill-lake-farm-meats/.
• Yogurt from Mattawan Creamery
• Mollie’s Clay Vessels, a Flint based artist who does one of a kind bowls, planters, vases and more
• Unique cards made by 4 area artists
• “Flatware” flowers and lady bugs made by our neighbor Dave
• Honey and maple syrup, we have comb honey. Check it out!
• Ruth’s pecan and cashew brittle
• Ladd’s Jalapeno Mustard (made with peppers grown here on the farm!)
• Artisan Cheese from Remy Picot (Benton Harbor)
• Michigan-shaped chairs with matching tables (Kalamazoo)
• Eggs (Kalamazoo)
• Detroit Bold Coffee Company coffee (Detroit)
• Dried blueberries and cherries (Traverse City)
• 4 flavors of Great Lakes Chips (Traverse City)
• 5 varieties of Michaelene’s granola (Clarkston)
• Boxed (totally recyclable) water (Grand Rapids)

Brandy and Hard Cider:

Made right here, we have Blueberry, Sweet, Strawberry, Dry, Peck of Peppers, Preach (Pear/Peach), Crop Rotation (Barrel-Aged), and Hopped Hard Ciders for sale. We are down to the last few boxes of Strawberry Cider. If anyone is a huge fan, get it this weekend! We also have Peach Polecat, Black Cherry Polecat, Cherry Wine, Kaiser Cyser, and Tart Cherry Hard Cider in 750mL bottles, and our usual line of brandies made exclusively from estate-grown produce, including our ever-popular oak aged apple brandy. Come try any of these at our free tasting sessions, Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Happenings on the farm this week: We got a break from apple picking as we await the next varieties to be ready. This gave us a chance to jump back into our lengthy to do list and do orchard and vineyard mowing, onion cutting and bagging, and finally, taking the greenhouse tomatoes out for the year and emptying the greenhouse. We still picked lovely tomatoes out of the greenhouse before we stripped the plants out….this greenhouse has produced some great tomatoes this year….and we have all enjoyed them.

Our cider mill preparation for 2016 created a flurry of activities as we began the detail work that is needed (cleaning, checking, running and adjusting, and so on) that is needed for our first run. Our goal is to make cider on Thursday, September 15th and have it ready for sale on Friday, September 16th……if……all goes well. Each year we have to anticipate problems as we continue to use our antique rack and press operation….and we love to be surprised when there aren’t any! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The sunflower maze—is open for your enjoyment. This is a small children’s maze, for toddlers up to around 8 years old, but last year we found our pumpkin maze was enjoyed by all ages. There are educational posters, a craft activity, a book reading station and many other things to enjoy. Please ask for directions to it when you come.  Everyone who has been through it has been really happy with their pictures of the sunflowers.

 

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local.

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who came out over Labor Day, we loved seeing so many of you here enjoying the farm and orchards. What a picture perfect weekend it was. We loved the cooler temperatures—but apparently they were just a fall teaser as the hot-humid weather returned this week. One of the ways we always know it is fall on the farm is the wonderful aroma of the grapes ripening. Yes, that fragrant smell when you drive in our parking lots are the white Niagara grapes!

So many of you enjoyed apple picking last weekend that we are going to have U-Pick apples open again this weekend.

• The varieties available will be:  Gala, Jon-A-Mac, and Mollie’s Delicious.
•  Apple picking will be available on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m – 6 p.m. We need everyone checked out at the market by 6, so you must be in the apple orchard by 5:30 to be able to pick. Please check in at the market to get directions and a bag to pick them in.

More varieties of apples are coming in! Here’s what we have at the market right now.  Apples are running about one week to 10 days ahead of their normal annual schedule due to the weather…so the season is moving fast.

• Mollie’s Delicious is a large, sweet eating apple. It is a late summer apple which we will only have a short time.
• Gala is a great eating and cooking apple. It has a crisp snappy bite over a mellow sweetness.
• Jon-A-Mac: This is a good cooking or eating apple.  It has all of the best qualities of a Jonathan apple and a McIntosh.  A favorite for apple sauce.
• Earli-blaze: This is a good cooking or eating apple, and it particularly makes a wonderful apple pie. We sell this apple to bakeries (including our own) for apple pie. (These apples are specially priced at $20 a bushel)
• Macintosh: This is a soft, white fleshed apple, very popular for baking and applesauce.
• JonaGold: Superbly crisp and juicy with shades of tart and sweet in each apple, very large and aromatic.  Cross between a Jonathan and Golden Delicious
• Honeycrisp: This seems to be many people’s favorite. It is crisp with an excellent sweet flavor and a “bite” to it.  Great for eating fresh or using in salads. We will have some this weekend, sold by the pound only ($2/lb.).

Apple Pricing for the year: with the exception of a few special varieties (like Honeycrisp) all the apples will be: $24 a bushel**, $13 a half-bushel, $7.50 a peck (1/4 of a bushel), $5 a half-peck, $3 a 1/4 peck and $1.00 a pound. **When we have bushels available. The price is the same for picked apples or u-pick apples.

• We have a good crop of apples and have made a forecast on when we think the varieties will be ready. We have copies of this on the market or you can continue to check back on our website where we will keep it updated. Please click here to view this: http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/2016-apple-information/.

Grape Update: We will take a sugar sample of grapes the week of 9-12, then hopefully we can determine an opening date for both the purple Concords and the white Niagaras. Best guess now is the white grapes could be ready the week of 9-19 and the purple grapes the week of 9-26. But it depends on the weather. Before we open, we will want them to be at their full ripeness and sugar content. Please check back with us around September 14th when we get our sugar sample back.

• Pricing will be the same as last year:  U-Pick Pricing for both color grapes is the following, please note we sell them by the pound, and consider a five-gallon pail or a 1/2 bushel basket to be 20 pounds.
  • 40 cents a pound for 20 pounds or less, 1 five-gallon bucket or a ½ bushel= $8
  • 21 to 100 pounds: 35 cents pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel = $7
  • Over 100 pounds; 25 cents pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel=$5

Picked grapes: We are taking orders for bushels of picked grapes both white Niagara and purple Concord, they are $26 a bushel, $14 half bushel, please call the market at 269-244-5690 to order them.

Bartlett pears: The Bartlett pear is a good eating and canning pear, very sweet and juicy.  We still have some left.  If you have already called us to reserve bushels, you should have received a call that they were ready, if not, please call us or come and get them. If you would still like some, please call the market and let us know how many you would want and we can save them for you. 269-244-5690. Pricing is $29 a bushel, $15 a half bushel, and we also have them in eating size quantities. 

Tomatoes: 

• Tomatoes from the field remain plentiful now. We have called everyone on our list to come and get them. If you did not receive a message, please call us and we’ll get your order filled.
•  “Firsts” Tomatoes are $19 a bushel or $10 a half bushel.
• “Seconds” Tomatoes (have blemishes or are misshapen) are $14 a bushel… This is great for making sauce, juice or salsa.
• U-Pick Tomatoes are now open and can be picked for $15 a bushel. Please check in at the market for directions and containers.
• How long will they last? We say up until the first frost, but they are in peak production right now so you should try to get them in the next several weeks if you want large quantities. 

Here’s what we have at the market now:

• Apples–Earli-blaze, Gala, Mollie’s Delicious, Jon A Mac, Jon A Gold, McIntosh and Honeycrisp
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Eggplant–3 different sizes
• Fresh Cut or “Cut Your Own” Herbs. 
  • We now have plenty of specialty basil as well as organic Genovese and are picking it in larger quantities for making pesto (look in our cooler for it). Some of the other herbs are not plentiful due to heat.  Plus we finally have cilantro!
• Fresh Dug Potatoes: Yukon Gold, Red Norland and Adirondack Blue
  • If you want potatoes by the bushel they are $25, this is about 50 pounds or more
• Field Tomatoes
• Mums
• Pears
• Peppers (so many sizes, colors and tastes!)  Check out our chocolate habanero!
• Plums:  Stanley Prune plums
• Onions–We are now bagging them in the red mesh bags
• Specialty Onions: Red Torpedo Tropea, Red Marble Cippolini, and Borrettana Cippolini are in. These are incredible for cooking or roasting
• Shallots
• Watermelon: Seeded, we think they have more flavor than the seedless ones!
• Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Spaghetti squash
• Winter Squash–Butternut now but more coming

Becca’s certified organic produce: Kale, Lettuce, Eggplant, Slicer Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Bunching Onions, Super Sweet Snacking Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Poblano (Ancho) Peppers, and Personal Cabbage. Some of this is in limited quantities so please call ahead and place an order if you want any of these items.

Bakery Update: Look for our “take and bake” pies for you to stock up on in your freezer (for you to indulge in or keep to share for the holidays). If you cannot find them, please ask and we will get them for you!  As we work to stock up, please feel free to special order and we can get them ready. “Take and bake” pie choices are all large-9″ pies and available flavors are: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Cherry Berry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb.

We will be making our pear pie now, this is a must try if you haven’t had one before!

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Frosted Sugar Cut Outs, Caramel Apple, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Triple Berry, Peanut Butter, and Ginger Molasses.
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Pear, Peach and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will have chocolate pies available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Whole Wheat, Honey Oat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns, Hot Dog Buns, and Focaccia Bread. We are partnering with La Brea Bakery on the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Rosemary Olive Oil, Roasted Garlic Loaf, and Toasted Sunflower Honey.
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Mini Cupcakes
• Slushies: Concord and Niagara Grape Blend and Our Own Apple Cider
• Muffins: Double Dutch Chocolate, Cherry Almond, Pistachio, Wild Berry, Lemon Poppy Seed, Raisin Bran, and Banana Nut
• Donuts: We will have our Apple, Pumpkin, and Buttermilk Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday,  and Sunday.   We also have our Chocolate Iced Yeast Donuts as well as Bavarian Cream-Filled Long Johns, Raspberry-Filled Bismarks and Apple Fritters!

Local Products: We try to offer as many local and Michigan made products as we can.

• Meat from Mill Lake Farms, http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/other-products/mill-lake-farm-meats/.
• Yogurt from Mattawan Creamery
• Mollie’s Clay Vessels, a Flint based artist who does one of a kind bowls, planters, vases and more
• Unique cards made by 4 area artists
• “Flatware” flowers and lady bugs made by our neighbor Dave
• Honey and maple syrup, we have comb honey. Check it out!
• Ruth’s pecan and cashew brittle
• Ladd’s Jalapeno Mustard (made with peppers grown here on the farm!)
• Artisan Cheese from Remy Picot (Benton Harbor)
• Michigan-shaped chairs with matching tables (Kalamazoo)
• Eggs (Kalamazoo)
• Detroit Bold Coffee Company coffee (Detroit)
• Dried blueberries and cherries (Traverse City)
• 4 flavors of Great Lakes Chips (Traverse City)
• 5 varieties of Michaelene’s granola (Clarkston)
• Boxed (totally recyclable) water (Grand Rapids)

Brandy and Hard Cider: We’re launching two new hard ciders this weekend, though if you were at HarmonyFest on in Three Rivers on Sunday or our free Saturday tasting sessions, you may have already tried these. The first is Preach, a sweet pear/peach hard cider. This one has gotten rave reviews from samplers. The second is Crop Rotation, a barrel-aged, bottle-conditioned dry cider. We put this in an apple brandy barrel last December, which imparts such an incredible flavor. This is a completely unfiltered cider, and the only cider we made this year without any added sulfites (though they do occur naturally in the fermentation process) and we recommend drinking this one soon or keeping it cold.

Made right here, we also have Blueberry, Sweet, Strawberry, Dry, Peck of Peppers, and Hopped Hard Ciders for sale in 12 and 22 oz. bottles. We also have Peach Polecat, Black Cherry Polecat, Cherry Wine, Kaiser Cyser, and Tart Cherry Hard Cider in 750mL bottles, and our usual line of brandies made exclusively from estate-grown produce, including our ever-popular oak aged apple brandy. Come try any of these at our free tasting sessions, Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Happenings on the farm this week:

Apples: The apple harvest has continued, but under tough conditions with the heat. This week we picked McIntosh and Jon-a-mac apples. You might notice that these apples and others don’t have the red coloring they have had of previous years. This is due to the weather, we need cool nights to help color the apples. So while you will find some in your bag that are green, they are ripe and have flavor. We are very careful to test the apples, but the final test is the “Beth eating some off the tree and saying yes or no!”

We continue to get the cider mill ready and plan to make cider on September 15th, which means we will have it in the market on September 16th.

We did complete almost all of our sunflower maze—so it is open for your enjoyment. This is a small children’s maze, for toddlers up to around 8 years old, but last year we found our pumpkin maze was enjoyed by all ages. There are educational posters, a craft activity, a book reading station and many other things to enjoy. Please ask for directions to it when you come.

Today we had a great crew prepare peaches for brandy….for a while it was fun–squeezing the heck out of a peach—a sure way to get rid of stress, frustrations and find your “inner peach.”  But with 117 baskets lined up to get through, it became quite a task. Thanks so much to this group for getting this job done. Bruce will be working with the  “mash” created today, oversee the fermentation and will be making it into peach brandy!

To any of our customers in the Lansing, Grand Rapids, or Ann Arbor areas (or those customers who don’t mind a drive), come visit us at the Mid-Mitten Cider Festival at Uncle John’s Cider Mill on Saturday in St. John’s, Michigan! From 2 p.m. until 7 p.m., you can enjoy the great atmosphere at Uncle John’s as well as over 100 Michigan ciders, perries, and wines. Hope to see you there. Learn more about the event here: http://www.ujcidermill.com/event/cider-perry-fest/

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Labor Day Weekend! We will be open all weekend from 8 – 6 every day, including Monday.  The market is chock full as both summer and fall produce adorn the shelves, and we will be opening u-pick for apples!

Apples are here!

• Mollie’s Delicious is a large, sweet eating apple. It is a late summer apple which we will only have a short time.
• Gala is a great eating and cooking apple. It has a crisp snappy bite over a mellow sweetness.
• Jon-A-Mac:  This is a good cooking or eating apple.  It has all of the best qualities of a Jonathan apple and a McIntosh.  A favorite for apple sauce.
• Earli-blaze:  This is a good cooking or eating apple, and it particularly makes a wonderful apple pie. We sell this apple to bakeries (including our own) for apple pie. (These apples are specially priced at $20 a bushel)
• Honeycrisp:  This seems to be many people’s favorite. It is crisp with an excellent sweet flavor and a “bite” to it.  Great for eating fresh or using in salads. We will have some this weekend, sold by the pound only.($2)
• We are opening up U-pick apples this weekend for you to be able to pick your own.  The varieties available will be:  Gala, Jon-A-Mac, and Mollie’s Delicious. We know that many of you will be around for the weekend and would like to have the “apple picking experience” with your family, especially so the kids can have apples they picked themselves for their lunch box and to give to their teacher!! (Do they still do that??) After this weekend, the U Pick will close again until more apples are ready, please check back for a date probably mid to the end of September.
•  Apple picking will be available on Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day Monday, during the hours we are open which is 8 until 6.  We need everyone checked out by 6, so you must be in the apple orchard by 5:30 to be able to pick.   Please check in at the market to get directions and a bag to pick them in.
• Apple Pricing for the year:  Our apple pricing for the year is:  With the exception of a few special varieties (like Honeycrisp) all the apples will be: $24 a bushel**, $13 a half-bushel, $7.50 a peck (1/4 of a bushel), $5 a half-peck, $3 a 1/4 peck and $1.00 a pound. **When we have bushels available   The price is the same for picked apples or u-pick apples.
• We have a good crop of apples and have made a forecast on when we think the varieties will be ready. We have copies of this on the market or you can continue to check back on our website where we will keep it updated. Please click here to view this: http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/2016-apple-information/.

Grape Update: We will take a sugar sample of grapes the week of 9-12, then hopefully we can determine an opening date for both the purple Concords and the white Niagara’s. Best guess now is the  white grapes could be ready the week of 9-19 and the purple grapes the week of 9-26. But it depends on the weather. Before we open, we will want them to be at their full ripeness and sugar content. Please check back with us around September 14th when we get our sugar sample back.

Bartlett pears:  The Bartlett pear is a good eating and canning pear, very sweet and juicy.  We will have them about one more week.  If you have already called us to reserve bushels, you should have received a call that they were ready, if not, please call us or come and get them.  If you would still like some, please call the market and let us know how many you would want and we can save them for you. 269-244-5690. Pricing is $29 a bushel, $15 a half bushel, and we also have them in eating size quantities. 

You may wonder why the pears are picked and sold green, this is a characteristic of pears. They must ripen off the tree, if not, then they will ripen from the inside out and be mushy. They will easily ripen for you if you will lay them out in a single layer when you get home in a dry, cool place, then wait for them to turn yellow, and enjoy!

Tomatoes: 

• Tomatoes from the field remain plentiful now. We have called everyone on our list to come and get them. If you did not receive a message, please call us and we’ll get your order filled.
•  “Firsts” Tomatoes are $19 a bushel or $10 a half bushel.
• “Seconds” Tomatoes (have blemishes or are misshapen) are $14 a bushel… This is great for making sauce, juice or salsa.
• U-Pick Tomatoes are now open and can be picked for $15 a bushel. Please check in at the market for directions and containers.
• How long will they last? We say up until the first frost, but they are in peak production right now so you should try to get them in the next several weeks if you want large quantities.

Peaches: 

• We have a few peaches left and hopefully will have them through the weekend.   They are Coral Stars, freestone and sweet.  We no longer have bushels, but have them by the peck, 1/2 peck and quart.  Updated 9-2-16.

Stanley Prune Plums: a purple-skin, yellow-fleshed-freestone plum we plan to start picking on September 2nd.

Here’s what we have at the market now:

• Apples–Earli Blaze, Gala, Mollie’s Delicious, Jon A Mac and Honeycrisp
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Eggplant–3 different sizes
• Fresh Cut or “Cut Your Own” Herbs. 
  • We now have plenty of specialty basil as well as organic Genovese and are picking it in larger quantities for making pesto (look in our cooler for it). Some of the other herbs are not plentiful due to heat.  Plus we finally have cilantro!
• Fresh Dug Potatoes: Yukon Gold, Red Norland and Adirondack Blue
  • If you want potatoes by the bushel they are $25, this is about 50 pounds or more….all colors are available, just call ahead to make sure we have them dug for you and please bring something to carry them home in. We have been unable to get to them with the rains but hope to harvest them on 9-2 again.
• Field Cucumbers and Small Pickling Cukes
• Field Tomatoes
• Mums
• Peaches
• Pears
• Peppers (so many sizes, colors and tastes!)  Check out our chocolate habanero!
• Plums:  Stanley Prune plums
• Onions–We are now bagging them in the red mesh bags
• Specialty onions:  Red Torpedo Tropea, Red Marble Cippolini, and Borrettana Cippolini are in. These are incredible for cooking or roasting
• Shallots
• Watermelon: Seeded, we think they have more flavor than the seedless ones!
• Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Spaghetti squash
• Winter Squash

Becca’s certified organic produce: Kale, Eggplant, Slicer Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Bunching Onions, Super Sweet Snacking Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Poblano (Ancho) Peppers, Shishito Peppers, and Personal Cabbage. Some of this is in limited quantities so please call ahead and place an order if you want any of these items.

Bakery Update:  Look for our “take and bake” pies for you to stock up on in your freezer (for you to indulge in) or keep to share for the holidays.   If you cannot find them, please ask and we will get them for you!  As we work to stock up,  please feel free to order and we can get them ready.  “Take and bake” pie choices are all large-9″ pies and available flavors are: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Cherry Berry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb.

We will be making our famous pear pie very soon, just waiting for the pears to ripen a bit more….

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Frosted Sugar Cut Outs, Zucchini Chocolate Chip, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Triple Berry, Peanut Butter, and Ginger Molasses.
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Cherry Berry, Peach and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will have Peach Glaze pies available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Whole Wheat, Honey Oat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns, Hot Dog Buns, and Focaccia Bread. We are partnering with La Brea Bakery on the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Rosemary Olive Oil, Roasted Garlic Loaf, and Toasted Sunflower Honey.
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Mini Cupcakes
• Slushies: Concord and Niagara Grape Blend and Our Own Apple Cider
• Muffins: Double Dutch Chocolate, Cherry Almond, Pistachio, Wild Berry, Lemon Poppy Seed, Raisin Bran, and Banana Nut
• Donuts: We will have our Apple, Pumpkin, and Buttermilk Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday, Sunday. and Monday for the holiday.   We also have our Chocolate Iced Yeast Donuts as well as Bavarian Cream-Filled Long Johns, Raspberry-Filled Bismarks and Apple Fritters!

Local Products: We try to offer as many local and Michigan made products as we can.

• Meat from Mill Lake Farms, http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/other-products/mill-lake-farm-meats/.
• Yogurt from Mattawan Creamery
• Mollie’s Clay Vessels, a Flint based artist who does one of a kind bowls, planters, vases and more
• Unique cards made by 4 area artists
• “Flatware” flowers and lady bugs made by our neighbor Dave
• Honey and maple syrup, we have comb honey. Check it out!
• Ruth’s pecan and cashew brittle
• Ladd’s Jalapeno Mustard (made with peppers grown here on the farm!)
• Artisan Cheese from Remy Picot (Benton Harbor)
• Michigan-shaped chairs with matching tables (Kalamazoo)
• Eggs (Kalamazoo)
• Detroit Bold Coffee Company coffee (Detroit)
• Dried blueberries and cherries (Traverse City)
• 4 flavors of Great Lakes Chips (Traverse City)
• 5 varieties of Michaelene’s granola (Clarkston)
• Boxed (totally recyclable) water (Grand Rapids)

Brandy and Hard Cider: We have our usual line of brandies made exclusively from estate-grown produce, including our ever-popular oak aged apple brandy. Made right here, we also have Blueberry, Sweet, Strawberry, Dry, Peck of Peppers, and Hopped Hard Ciders for sale in 12 and 22 oz. bottles. We also have Peach Polecat, Black Cherry Polecat, Cherry Wine, Kaiser Cyser, and Tart Cherry Hard Cider in 750mL bottles.

Happenings on the farm this week:

Apples:  The apple harvest has started!  This week our crew picked most of the Gala, in order to get them off the tree while at their peak ripeness.  This apple doesn’t like a lot of rain, and with the un-ending showers of late, we wanted to get them before they began to crack.  Again, thanks to our wonderful crew who endured the down pours to get them harvested.

We began readying the cider mill–anticipate having cider by mid-September.

We worked on our sunflower maze—if all goes well tomorrow, we will have it open on Saturday.  This is a small children’s maze, for toddlers up to around 8 years old, but last year we found our pumpkin maze was enjoyed by all ages….See more information below**

Three River’s Harmony Fest is this weekend.  This is a great event, great music and you can enjoy our hard ciders there!   It is open from 1pm – 10:30 pm….for more info go to:  https://www.facebook.com/HarmonyFest/events

Here’s hoping you have a safe and great weekend and we hope to see you at the farm.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local.

**Sunflower Maze Trail information:

• Enjoy stories about sunflowers
• Find fun activity stops
• Enter your name for weekly prize giveaways!

Entrance into the maze is free with any $10 purchase at the market. Upon your purchase, you will be given a ticket for entrance. Please fill this out with your name, email address and phone number and place it in the box at the entrance. We will do a drawing once a week for various prizes from our market!

Information for Adults:

1. Please pick up a map of the trail if you would like to see how to get through it and where the activity spots are
2. No children are to be unattended in the trail. An adult must be supervising at all times
3. Please help us put each of the activity stations back in order so they’re ready for the next person when you leave
4. Please be careful walking through the maze as there are many natural hazards (an occasional rock, an uneven surface, a honey bee, etc.).
5. Due to uneven surface, strollers will not easily go through the walkway, wagons will
6. Please stay on the path and the mowed grass
7. Please do not take food or drinks into the area (you will only invite a bee to want to come with you!)
8. No pets, please
9. Absolutely no smoking anywhere on our farm.
10. You may peek into our greenhouse and hoop house structures from a distance, but please do not go in them. There is important farm work happening and they are closed to the public
11. Please watch for vehicles when crossing the driveway to the entrance
12. We close at 6 pm, so please be out of the trail by 5:45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While it doesn’t feel like fall, the transition has begun. Some summer favorites – blueberries, cantaloupe, sweet corn and green beans – are gone for the year. The peppers are brightly colored from purple to red to gold by the late summer sun. Fall red raspberries return. Zucchini is no longer the preferred squash, everyone seems ready for acorn and butternut squash. The bakery has started their fall donut flavors of apple cider and pumpkin. Summer flowers are waning and mums are on their way. Like our customers, we are well into our preparations to gear up for another great fall season here at the farm, a favorite time for so many families: mazes, freshly pressed cider, grape and apple picking, pumpkins and gourds, pear pie and apple dumplings…..stay tuned.

Key produce updates:

Tomatoes: 

• Tomatoes from the field are plentiful now. We have called everyone on our list to come and get them. If you did not receive a message, please call us and we’ll get your order filled.
•  “Firsts” Tomatoes are $19 a bushel or $10 a half bushel.
• “Seconds” Tomatoes (have blemishes or are misshapen0) are $14 a bushel… This is great for making sauce, juice or salsa.
• U-Pick Tomatoes are now open and can be picked for $15 a bushel. Please check in at the market for directions and containers.
• How long will they last? We say up until the first frost, but they are in peak production right now so you should try to get them in the next several weeks if you want large quantities.

Peaches: 

• We have finished picking peaches for the year so we will have them until we run out, probably until about August 31st. These are Coral Star which are freestone, nice sized and very sweet. They are excellent for fresh eating or canning/freezing.
• Peach pricing is: $48 bushel, $25 1/2 bushel (or 2 pecks), $8.75 1/2 peck and $4.00 a quart. If you want bushels, please give us a call if you can to pre-order and we can have them ready for you. The bushels are all sorted and are “firsts”, they are not tree-run.

Apples: Apples are coming! We still have Earli Blaze which is a great summer apple for eating or cooking. We are also starting to pick Gala and Mollie’s Delicious. We may even have a few early Honeycrisp picked for the weekend. As we have done in the past several years, we hope to have some u-pick apples over Labor Day weekend…unless the weather changes that plan. We will firm this up next week and get the information out.

We have a good crop of apples and have made a forecast on when we think the varieties will be ready. We have copies of this on the market or you can continue to check back on our website where we will keep it updated. Please click here to view this: http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/2016-apple-information/.

Bartlett Pears are ready: This is an excellent pear for fresh eating or canning. Warning: this is the kind of pear that will drip juice down your face when eating! We hope to finish the harvest today. The rains of the past weeks have helped them to size nicely. You may wonder why the pears are picked and sold green, this is a characteristic of pears. They must ripen off the tree, if not, then they will ripen from the inside out and be mushy. They will easily ripen for you if you will lay them out in a single layer when you get home in a dry, cool place, then wait for them to turn yellow, and enjoy!

As always, we’ll have them in small eating quantities as well as in larger quantities for people who want to can. Thankfully this is a very plentiful pear year for us and we are happy to sell them to you by the bushel, $29/Bu. We’ve called everyone on our pre-order list, so if you didn’t get a message, please call us or come over to get them. 269-244-5690. We hope to have them through Labor Day weekend.

Stanley Prune Plums: a purple-skin, yellow-fleshed-freestone plum will probably be ready around August 29th.

Concord and Niagara Grapes: We have a great crop of these this year….they will probably be ready around the week of September 19th. Check back with us mid September (like 9-12) to see if we have a better idea of when we will open for u-pick.

Here’s what we have at the market now:

• Apples–Earli Blaze, Gala, Mollie’s Delicious and a few Honeycrisp over the weekend
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Eggplant–3 different sizes
• Fresh Cut or “Cut Your Own” Herbs. 
  • We now have plenty of specialty basil as well as organic Genovese and are picking it in larger quantities for making pesto (look in our cooler for it). Some of the other herbs are not plentiful due to heat.
• Fresh Dug Potatoes: Yukon Gold, Red Norland and Adirondack Blue
  • If you want potatoes by the bushel they are $25, this is about 50 pounds or more….all colors are available, just call ahead to make sure we have them dug for you and please bring something to carry them home in.
• Field Cucumbers and Small Pickling Cukes
• Field Tomatoes
• Peaches
• Pears
• Peppers (so many sizes, colors and tastes!)  Check out our snacking peppers!
• Plums:  Stanley Prune plums (just starting) available by the quart, a purple freestone plum
• Onions–We are now bagging them in the red mesh bags
• Specialty onions:  Red Torpedo Tropea, Red Marble Cippolini, and Borrettana Cippolini are in. These are incredible for cooking or roasting
• Shallots
• Watermelon: Seeded, we think they have more flavor than the seedless ones!
• Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Spaghetti squash

Becca’s certified organic produce: Kale, Eggplant, Slicer Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Bunching Onions, Super Sweet Snacking Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Poblano (Ancho) Peppers, Shishito Peppers, and Personal Cabbage. Some of this is in limited quantities so please call ahead and place an order if you want any of these items.

Bakery Update:  Whew, what a relief to be half way through the season and into our final fall stretch. We realize many of our local and lake customers miss our pies during the long winter months. So we have you covered! This week we have begun making extra pies to freeze so we can offer “take and bake” pies for you to stock up on in your freezer (for you to indulge in) or keep to share for the holidays.  We have some available immediately and are working to put some in the freezer in the front area of the bakery. If you cannot find them, please ask and we will get them for you!  As we work to stock up,  please feel free to order and we can get them ready.  “Take and bake” pie choices are all large-9″ pies and available flavors are: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Cherry Berry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb.

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Frosted Sugar Cut Outs, Zucchini Chocolate Chip, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Triple Berry, Peanut Butter, and Ginger Molasses.
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will have Peach Glaze pies available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Whole Wheat, Honey Oat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns, Hot Dog Buns, and Focaccia Bread. We are partnering with La Brea Bakery on the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Rosemary Olive Oil, Roasted Garlic Loaf, and Toasted Sunflower Honey.
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Mini Cupcakes
• Slushies: Concord and Niagara Grape Blend and Our Own Apple Cider
• Muffins: Double Dutch Chocolate, Cherry Almond, Pistachio, Wild Berry, Lemon Poppy Seed, Raisin Bran, and Banana Nut
• Donuts: We will have our Apple, Pumpkin, and Buttermilk Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That’s right, fall donut flavors are here! We also have our Chocolate Iced Yeast Donuts as well as Bavarian Cream-Filled Long Johns, Raspberry-Filled Bismarks and Apple Fritters!

Local Products: We try to offer as many local and Michigan made products as we can.

• Meat from Mill Lake Farms, http://www.coreylakeorchards.com/other-products/mill-lake-farm-meats/.
• Yogurt from Mattawan Creamery
• Mollie’s Clay Vessels, a Flint based artist who does one of a kind bowls, planters, vases and more
• Unique cards made by 4 area artists
• “Flatware” flowers and lady bugs made by our neighbor Dave
• Honey and maple syrup. Last week, our farm beekeeper Charlotte brought in comb honey. Check it out!
• Ruth’s pecan and cashew brittle
• Ladd’s Jalapeno Mustard (made with peppers grown here on the farm!)
• Artisan Cheese from Remy Picot (Benton Harbor)
• Michigan-shaped chairs with matching tables (Kalamazoo)
• Eggs (Kalamazoo)
• Detroit Bold Coffee Company coffee (Detroit)
• Dried blueberries and cherries (Traverse City)
• 4 flavors of Great Lakes Chips (Traverse City)
• 5 varieties of Michaelene’s granola (Clarkston)
• Boxed (totally recyclable) water (Grand Rapids)

Brandy and Hard Cider: We have our usual line of brandies made exclusively from estate-grown produce, including our ever-popular oak aged apple brandy. Made right here, we also have Blueberry, Sweet, Strawberry, Dry, Peck of Peppers, and Hopped Hard Ciders for sale in 12 and 22 oz. bottles. We also have Peach Polecat, Black Cherry Polecat, Cherry Wine, Kaiser Cyser, and Tart Cherry Hard Cider in 750mL bottles.

Happenings on the farm this week:

The heavy rains of a week ago caused our cantaloupe to split—so when you have lemons…or when you have split melons—make melon brandy! Also in the brandy house this week: Becca bottled up our barrel-aged hard cider! We stored 40+ gallons of hard cider in a former apple brandy/whiskey barrel. What a flavor! It needs to bottle condition for a couple of weeks but we should have it for Labor Day.

We weeded and weeded and weeded….the rains made for quick growing weeds, but thankfully easy to pull out.

We picked pears—truly one of the most difficult jobs on this farm.  The trees are tall, requiring climbing 18′ ladders with a picking bucket of pears (50 some pounds) going up and down all day – because they’re planted on a steep hillside, we have to use ladders and can’t use our picking machines. As always, we are grateful for our crew who tackles this difficult harvest each year.

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local.