So, while June 20th marks the official start of summer, here in Pure Michigan we feel like we’re almost half way through summer with the several day bouts of very hot days. (Or is it spring again?) We appreciated how many of you came out this past weekend in the sweltering heat to visit the farm and pick berries. The heat accelerated the growth of fruit and vegetables, so we have an abundance of zucchini, yellow summer squash, garlic scapes, lettuce and kohlrabi, so please help us out by planning these into your menu’s this week!

And sadly, it took its toll on strawberries, bringing them to closer to the end sooner than any of us were ready for.

U-Pick berries: We have a few more rows of berries to pick before U-PIck strawberry season is over, so once those are picked, we will be done for the year. We hope that will go through Friday, but if they get picked out sooner (like on Thursday) than we will be finished. If there are some left, we may have them this weekend. We are open for picking 8 until noon each day, unless we get picked out. Please check before you come to make sure we still have berries left  269-244-5690.

Picked Berries: We will pick as many berries as  we can each day and they will be $4.00 a quart. Due to how few berries are left, we are not able to take any more orders. But if you call and we have some on hand, we’re happy to set them aside for you. We will try to pick berries through this weekend and may have a few quarts on and off next week.

This has been a difficult berry season for sure, we truly appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding.

Sweet Cherries: We will not be able to have U-Pick Sweet cherries this year, due to the rains and high humidity causing the cherries to split.  We will have picked sweet cherries when they are ready, which we anticipate will be sometime the week of June 26^th.

Tart Cherries: We do have a good crop of these and we will be open for U-Pick as well as having them picked on the market. We expect those to be ready sometime around the beginning of July, depending on the weather of course.

Blueberries are coming along nicely, expect some to be ready by the middle of July.

Here’s what is on the market now:

• Fresh broccoli, zucchini, kohlrabi, cabbage, cucumbers,  yellow summer squash and peas are starting
• Greenhouse tomatoes, greenhouse cucumbers
• Some of our u-pick herbs are ready. Find bags, scissors for cutting around the neck of the bird overlooking the herb garden. A list of what is ready is posted at the market.
• Straw: We have extra bales of straw available for your mulching needs. They are $6/bale or 4 bales for $20.
• We are currently harvesting lots of lettuce from our certified organic field so we will have it on special again for $5 a pound this weekend while it lasts. We also have garlic scapes, kale, carrots, and a few cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from the certified organic plot.

From the bakery this weekend:

We are sorry strawberry season was so short this year as we only got to make strawberry glaze pie one weekend. We loved getting the feedback on how much everyone enjoyed those…..stay tuned, blueberry glaze pie will be coming when blueberries are ready!

• Cookies: Flower Cut Outs, M&M “Monster” Cookies, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Lemon
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, Strawberry Rhubarb, and Peanut Butter
  • Note:  making peanut butter pies for Friday, Saturday and Sunday only
• Homemade Shortcake for topping with strawberries and whipped cream (in our refrigerated case)
• Breads: Whole Wheat, Whole Grain, Cinnamon, Hamburger and Hotdog Buns
• Cinnamon Rolls, Sticky Buns, Yeast Donuts
• Cake Donuts: Buttermilk, Blueberry, and Cherry (made on Friday, Saturday,  and Sunday)
• Slushies (now in 2 sizes based on customer’s requests for larger size!)

New in the bakery freezer:  Plainwell vanilla ice cream, for pie a la mode!

Hard Ciders, Wine and Brandies: Strawberry Cider is back! We’ve also got our Prince Tribute Cider, Brunch, Rhubarb, Ginger, Dry, Semi-Sweet, Sweet, Hopped, and Bark Bite. If you’re interested in a mead, our new United Squash Federation features a really mellow blend of ingredients, most notably buttercup squash and caramel. It’s just a really soft, nice mead that comes in at about 8% alcohol by volume. We also have our full line of Hubbard’s Brandy, Double Cherry Wine, and Kaiser Cyser.If you’re looking for our cider outside of our farm, you can visit Rooster’s Wing Shack in Three Rivers, The Riviera Theatre in Three Rivers, Dussel’s in Cassopolis, Craft Beer Cellar in Grand Rapids, and as always, The Local in Centreville, Michigan.

Brandy tasting and tours are this Saturday with Bruce from 1 – 3 in the brandy room. Hard cider tastings are at the market 4-6 on Fridays and 3-6 on Saturdays. We’ll have many of our ciders on tap for flights and growler fills as well. Come sit and enjoy the space at the side of the market with a drink and pleasant conversation, and a view of the lake and our gardens. We look forward to seeing you rain or shine!

Farmer’s Markets: June means all of the local farmers markets have started. You can find us at Texas Township Farmers Market every Tuesday, plus every other Saturday (there again on June 23rd). Find out more: http://www.texastownship.org/community/farmers-market/. We also partner with CINO and the Huss School project to have our produce and baked goods at the Three Rivers Farmer’s market every Thursday:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/trfarmersmarket/about/?ref=page_internal. We’re also doing the People’s Food Co-op Night Markets in Kalamazoo this year! Our first one is on June 21st. Find out more here: http://pfcmarkets.com/all-markets/night-market

Happenings on the farm this week:  The week seemed to revolve around strawberries…constant checks on the weather forecast which turned into worrying, trying to pick as many as we could, cutting and making into pies, bottling, labeling, packing strawberry hard cider, and our favorite part: watching families enjoying themselves. We will leave you with a few pictures from the week (thanks to folks who gave us permission to post their photos!).

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local!

There are so many ways to enjoy strawberries–but the important thing is to enjoy them while they are in season because they always seem to go too soon! Just some of the ways to tempt you when you are here: fresh glaze strawberry pie, rhubarb strawberry pie, our homemade shortcake, our just-released strawberry hard cider, with chocolate dip available on the berry table, or my favorite:  from the quart box directly into my mouth!

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 17th this year. We will have free cake donuts for any dads (or folks fulfilling that role) in the bakery. Bring Dad out for strawberry picking in the morning, followed by enjoying baked goods, coffee and juice at our market tables, and picking up a pie to go! Or go ahead and pick him strawberries while he sleeps in. 🙂

That’s right, you can pick your own. We opened U-Pick Strawberries on Thursday, June 14th. We will be open every day at 8 am, closing the field at noon or earlier if all the berries are picked out for the day. They are $2.50 a quart to pick, if you don’t have quart boxes, we will loan you some, but bring some containers to take them home in please. The weather has not been kind to our strawberries this year. Some berries survived the extreme heat in May, then the rains of this past weekend caused some to spoil. Strawberries need cool nights and some dry sunny days to be at their best, which we have been short of lately! Other farms in the area are experiencing the same situation. 

We will have our Jewel variety for picking, which is a nice large berry. These are nice berries to pick, but it will take a little longer to work around the ones that have been spoiled by the rain. We will work to give everyone the best picking that we have available. Those who came out on opening day were satisfied and pleased with what they got, understanding that every year is a bit different.We will evaluate the picking conditions daily and will provide an update on Facebook, and our phone recording, or you can call us before you come over. 269-244-5690. Berry picking typically lasts a week to 10 days when the weather conditions are good, so it is hard for us to know how long they will last this year.

family enjoying berry picking today

Already picked strawberries: $4.00 quart. Sorry, we are not able to take any more orders for flats at the special pricing at this point. We will honor and fill all of the orders we have taken and you should have been called by now for a pick up date. If not, call us. 269-244-5690.  We hope to have picked berries for another 10 days to two weeks since we are supplementing our own from picking at other local farms.

Here’s what is on the market now:

• Fresh broccoli, zucchini , kohlrabi and yellow summer squash
• Greenhouse tomatoes, greenhouse cucumbers
• Some of our u-pick herbs are ready. Find bags, scissors for cutting around the neck of the bird overlooking the herb garden. A list of what is ready is posted at the market.
• Bedding Plants: All of our vegetable, tomato and flower plants are now buy 1, get 1 free. We won’t have them much longer.
• Straw: We have extra bales of straw available for your mulching needs. They are $6/bale or 4 bales for $20.
• We are currently harvesting lots of lettuce from our certified organic field so we will have it on special again for $5 a pound this weekend while it lasts. We also have garlic scapes, kale, carrots, and a few cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from the certified organic plot.

From the bakery this weekend:

• Cookies: Flower Cut Outs, M&M “Monster” Cookies, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Lemon
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb, Strawberry Glaze Pie (available only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
• Homemade Shortcake for topping with strawberries and whipped cream (in our refrigerated case)
• Breads: Whole Wheat, Whole Grain, Cinnamon, Hamburger and Hotdog Buns
• Cinnamon Rolls, Sticky Buns, Yeast Donuts
• Cake Donuts: Buttermilk, Blueberry, and Cherry (made on Friday, Saturday,  and Sunday)
• Slushies

Michaela finishing off a strawberry glaze pie

Hard Ciders, Wine and Brandies: Strawberry Cider is back! We’ve also got our Prince Tribute Cider, Brunch, Rhubarb, Ginger, Dry, Semi-Sweet, Sweet, Hopped, and Bark Bite. If you’re interested in a mead, our new United Squash Federation features a really mellow blend of ingredients, most notably buttercup squash and caramel. It’s just a really soft, nice mead that comes in at about 8% alcohol by volume. We also have our full line of Hubbard’s Brandy, Double Cherry Wine, and Kaiser Cyser.If you’re looking for our cider outside of our farm, you can visit Rooster’s Wing Shack in Three Rivers, The Riviera Theatre in Three Rivers, Dussel’s in Cassopolis, Craft Beer Cellar in Grand Rapids, and as always, The Local in Centreville, Michigan.

Brandy tasting and tours are this Saturday with Bruce from 1 – 3 in the brandy room. Hard cider tastings are at the market 4-6 on Fridays and 3-6 on Saturdays. We’ll have many of our ciders on tap for flights and growler fills as well. Come sit and enjoy the space at the side of the market with a drink and pleasant conversation, and a view of the lake and our gardens. We look forward to seeing you rain or shine!

Farmer’s Markets: June means all of the local farmers markets have started. You can find us at Texas Township Farmers Market every Tuesday, plus every other Saturday (there again on June 23rd). Find out more: http://www.texastownship.org/community/farmers-market/. We also partner with CINO and the Huss School project to have our produce and baked goods at the Three Rivers Farmer’s market every Thursday:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/trfarmersmarket/about/?ref=page_internal. We’re also doing the People’s Food Co-op Night Markets in Kalamazoo this year! Our first one is on June 21st. Find out more here: http://pfcmarkets.com/all-markets/night-market

Happenings on the Farm this week:

We’ve had to rescue a few more children than we would have liked to this week! Sometimes kids are afraid to come down the big slide, and sometimes kids wander out of the play area. We love being able to share our farm spaces with you and seeing children playing happily in our yard area. But….we need your help to make sure you are keeping an eye on your precious children while they are here. We are a working farm with many interesting things that curious children like to get up close and personal with. Their safety is extremely important to us, as is protecting them from cultivation areas, equipment, well pits, and the like, which are not safe for kids. Thank you in advance for your help keeping everyone safe.

We made lots of end of year teacher appreciation baskets, filled with yogurt, fresh strawberries, granola and flowers. We had fun making these up and hope the teachers enjoyed them. It was our small way of helping to appreciate our local teachers for whom we are so grateful. Happy summer, everyone!

We got our last crop planted for the year, pumpkins!….good thing we have a planting schedule or we might have forgotten as thinking about pumpkins in June is not natural.

In the last few weeks, the most frequently asked question has been what kind of flower is in our stone bed in front of the market? It is yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata). We love it! If you want some, see us in the spring when we thin some out before it takes over the entire bed. Find out more about it here:  https://www.gardenia.net/plant/lysimachia-punctata-yellow-loosestrife

And of course…..we picked lost of strawberries.  A huge thanks to our great picking crew.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local and we hope to see you soon.

We will open for U-Pick strawberries on Thursday, June 14th at 8 am, closing the field at noon or earlier if all the berries are picked out for the day. They are $2.50 a quart to pick, if you don’t have quart boxes, we will loan you some, but bring some containers to take them home in please.

The weather has not been kind to our strawberries this year. Some berries survived the extreme heat in May, then the rains of this past weekend caused some to spoil. Strawberries need cool nights and some dry sunny days to be at their best, which we have been short of lately! Other farms in the area are experiencing the same situation.

We will have our Jewel variety for picking, which we have the most of and has held up better than our early varieties. There are nice berries to pick, but it will take a little longer to work around the ones that have been spoiled by the rain. We will work to give everyone the best picking that we have available.

We will evaluate the picking conditions daily and will provide an update on facebook, our phone recorder or you can call us before you come over. 269-244-5690. Berry picking typically lasts a week to 10 days when the weather conditions are good, so it is hard for us to know how long they will last this year.

We appreciate your understanding of this.

Depending on where you are coming from, there are two other U-PIck berry farms who have told me they have excellent picking right now.

Soil Friend in Galesburg: https://www.facebook.com/soilfriends

Harvey’s U-Pick in Tekonsha:
https://www.facebook.com/Harveys-Farm-103412043032862/

Our first strawberries of the year!

Pricing — Already Picked strawberries: $4.00 quart.  Sorry, we are not able to take any more orders for flats at the special pricing at this point.  We will honor and fill all of the orders we have taken and you should have been called by now for a pick up date.  If not, call us.   269-244-5690.  We hope to have picked berries for another 10 days to two weeks since we are supplementing our own from picking at other local farms.

Here’s what is on the market now:

Fresh broccoli, zucchini and yellow summer squash is here.

Rhubarb: Available now for $2.50 a pound. If you need 10 pounds or more, it’s $2.00 a pound., please call us to order in large quantities.

Greenhouse tomatoes are plentiful right now. So, we are running a special of 3 pounds for $5.00.   This is the first time in several years they have produced this many in order to do this—so we are pleased!

We picked 50 baskets today! Whew!

Some of our U-Pick Herbs are ready. Find bags, scissors for cutting around the neck of the bird overlooking the herb garden. A list of what is ready is posted at the market.

Bedding Plants: All of our vegetable, tomato and flower plants are now buy 1, get 1 free. We won’t have them much longer.

Straw: We have extra bales of straw available for your mulching needs. They are $6/bale or 4 bales for $20.

We are currently harvesting lots of lettuce from our certified organic hoophouse and field so we will have it on special again for $5 a pound this weekend while it lasts. We also have garlic scapes, kale and the first organic cucumbers available.

The bakery’s offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Flower Cut Outs, M&M “Monster” Cookies, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Lemon
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb
• Breads: Whole Wheat, Whole Grain, Cinnamon, Hamburger and Hotdog Buns
• Cinnamon Rolls, Sticky Buns, Yeast Donuts
• Cake Donuts: Buttermilk, Blueberry, and Cherry (made on Friday, Saturday,  and Sunday)
• Slushies

Hard Ciders, Wine and Brandies: We’ve got lots of ciders available! Plentiful Brunch (maple vanilla), Hopped, Sweet, Semi-Sweet, and Dry. Also, our Prince Tribute Cider is back! Our Rhubarb Cider which many of you tried last year is back in bottles just in time for the weekend, and we also have a new dry mead out! United Squash Federation features a really mellow blend of ingredients, most notably buttercup squash and caramel. It’s just a really soft, nice mead that comes in at about 8% alcohol by volume. We also have our full line of Hubbard’s Brandy, Double Cherry Wine, and Kaiser Cyser.

If you’re looking for our cider outside of our farm, you can visit Rooster’s Wing Shack in Three Rivers, The Riviera Theatre in Three Rivers, Dussel’s in Cassopolis, Craft Beer Cellar in Grand Rapids, and as always, The Local in Centreville, Michigan.

Rachel and Terri at Texas Township on Tuesday

June means all of the local farmers markets have started. You can find us at Texas Township Farmers Market every Tuesday, plus every other Saturday (there again on June 19h). Find out more: http://www.texastownship.org/community/farmers-market/. We also partner with CINO and the Huss School project to have our produce and baked goods at the Three Rivers Farmer’s market every Thursday:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/trfarmersmarket/about/?ref=page_internal. We’re also doing the People’s Food Co-op Night Markets in Kalamazoo this year! Our first one is on June 21st. Find out more here: http://pfcmarkets.com/all-markets/night-market

Find Amber and Annelie in Three Rivers on Thursdays

Happenings on the Farm this week:

The “waiting for strawberries” game allowed us to get caught up on over due weeding and getting more plantings in. The excessive heat in May didn’t stop any weeds from growing, that’s for sure! The asparagus grew so fast with the heat that we were able to harvest more asparagus than usual  (grows an inch an hour when the temperatures are over 90 degrees!). This allowed us to feed 600 folks who get hot free meals from the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission. Greg from the kitchen sent us this picture of blackened cat fish over asparagus topped with a lemon butter sauce that he prepared for everyone. We love sharing our bounty with others when we can. We also have supplied the local food bank with asparagus for the past two weeks, and with our abundance of lettuce and tomatoes, we shared those today too.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards thanks you for buying local and we hope to see you soon.

My favorite part of the day, getting to the farm early and soaking in the sunrise.

Thanks for a family for allowing me to photo bomb their picture! and then sending it to me!

So here’s what we know about strawberries so far:

• Strawberries are looking good so far – as of now we have a good crop of them.
• When will they be ready? This is a harder question to answer due to the weather extremes this year. The cool spring slowed their growth but they are catching up with the “summer heat” of late.  We may have some early berries picked for the market the week of June 4^th by the quart only.
•  U-Pick Strawberries: Call back or check our website or Facebook page around June 6 for an update. We are thinking sometime the week of June 11th, depending on the weather. If you sign up for our weekly email, you’ll automatically be notified when they are ready, along with everything else when it comes into season. You can sign up for the emails by going to the website’s home page www.coreylakeorchards.com and clicking on:  “Subscribe to our mailing list.” Or you can add your name when you are at the market to our sign up list or call us to put you on it (269-244-5690) .
• Pricing — Already Picked: $4.00 quart, a flat of 8 for $30 (which makes them $3.75 a quart. ) We are taking orders for flats right now. 269-244-5690.  U-Pick:  $2.50 quart 

June means all of the local farmers markets have started. You can find us at Texas Township Farmers Market every Tuesday, plus every other Saturday (there again on June 2nd). Find out more:  http://www.texastownship.org/community/farmers-market/. We also partner with CINO and the Huss School project to have our produce and baked goods at the Three Rivers Farmer’s market every Thursday:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/trfarmersmarket/about/?ref=page_internal

Three Rivers Farmer’s Market every Thursday!

We loved seeing so many customers enjoying the farm over the holiday weekend, many of the lake customers were back for the first time for the year along with all of our loyal local customers. You kept us busy making pies, then more pies, bottling more hard cider, picking and bagging asparagus and lettuce. Thanks for coming out despite the heat!

Thanks as always for buying local, from everyone at Corey Lake Orchards.

Update from Dave Vago, Three Rivers DDA Executive Director:

Greetings again from Downtown Three Rivers – just a quick reminder regarding our June 1st First Friday Ice Cream Social. Come to Main Street in Downtown Three Rivers and look for the tent near the corner of Portage and Main for free ice cream and toppings sponsored by our Main Street business owners! At the tent, you can receive cups/bowls and a program. Then, you’ll walk the block and pick up toppings from the various business owners before returning to the tent for ice cream! The event runs from 5 to 8 pm, and concurs with the Movies in the Park event at 7:00 sponsored by the Farmers’ Market. Stay tuned for more events over the course of the summer, as well as the latest news on business development here. We’ll see you on Main Street!

This holiday weekend, along with all of you, we’d like to extend our appreciation to our veterans and active service members for all that they have given and sacrificed. We’d like to treat any veteran or active service member who comes to the market over the weekend and on Memorial Day to a free cake donut. (Yes, we will be open our normal hours of 8 until 6 on Memorial Day.)

Here’s what we have on the market right now:

Asparagus: We have plenty of asparagus now. Asparagus pricing this year is $2.50 a pound; 3 pounds for $7; or 5 pounds for $11.50. If you get 10 pounds or more, it goes to $2.20 a pound. If you want large quantities (like 20 pounds or more) it helps us if you can call ahead and order it and we can get it ready for you. 269-244-5690.

Rhubarb: Available now for $2.50 a pound. If you need 10 pounds or more, it’s $2.00 a pound., please call us to order in large quantities.

Bedding plants: Yes, it is time to get your gardens finished….or for some of you, started! Memorial Day has always served as a marker for when gardens and flower beds should be planted and finished. With the wet soil this year, we are all struggling to get things planted! We think it’s okay if you’re a little behind, but it’s a good weekend to get it done just the same.

We were determined to get tomato plants in so we planted right thru the lake!

We still have a good selection available of:

• Cool-weather crops: Cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, various lettuce varieties, broccoli, chard, and spinach
• Flower annuals: We have a huge selection of flower annuals….too many to list
• Tomato plants: We have a large selection of tomatoes (all the ones that we grow here in our own fields) plus mini tomatoes like grape and cherry
• Herbs
• Other “heat loving” vegetable plants like peppers, cucumbers, melons, squash, and eggplant
• Hanging flower baskets: We have lots of hanging baskets, including some of the favorites we carry every year
• Specialty pots made up with flower and herb arrangements
• Large tomato and pepper plants for your patio, porch or yard
  

  Check out these “fun” fall squash varieties

Straw: We have extra bales of straw available for your mulching needs. They are $6/bale or 4 bales for $20.

We are currently harvesting lots of lettuce from our certified organic hoophouse so we will have it on special again for $5 a pound this weekend while it lasts. We also have lots of kale and the last of the spinach available!

Becca using a weed burner for prepping the ground for organic planting

The bakery’s offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Flower Cut Outs, M&M “Monster” Cookies, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Lemon
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, Rhubarb and Strawberry Rhubarb and Blueberry Rhubarb
• Breads: Whole Wheat, Whole Grain, Cinnamon, Hamburger and Hotdog Buns
• Cinnamon Rolls, Sticky Buns, Yeast Donuts
• Cake Donuts: Buttermilk, Blueberry, and Cherry (made on Friday, Saturday,  Sunday and Memorial Day Monday)
• Slushies

Cookies coming out of the oven today!

In the bakery freezer case you can find:

• Local gluten free items from Gluten Free Sensations in Three Rivers: brownies, cookies, cinnamon rolls, cherry and apple pies, and granola.
• Pork products from Jake’s Country Meats: brats, pork sausage links, bacon, and snacking sticks.

Some of our U-Pick Herbs are ready. Find bags, scissors for cutting around the neck of the bird overlooking the herb garden. A list of what is ready is posted at the market.

 

 

 

 

 

Hard Ciders, Wine and Brandies: We’ve got lots of ciders available! Plentiful Brunch (maple vanilla), Hopped, Sweet, Semi-Sweet, and Dry. Also, our Prince Tribute Cider is back! We’re nearly to the end of Ginger, Hometown Hero, and Currant/Cacao, so pick those up ASAP since they might not last the weekend. We also have our full line of Hubbard’s Brandy, Double Cherry Wine, and Kaiser Cyser.

If you’re looking for our cider outside of our farm, you can visit Rooster’s Wing Shack in Three Rivers, The Riviera Theatre in Three Rivers, Dussel’s in Cassopolis, Craft Beer Cellar in Grand Rapids, and as always, The Local in Centreville, Michigan.

Brandy tasting and tours return this Saturday with Bruce from 1 – 3 in the brandy room. We will also be starting up our cider tastings like we offered last year.  From 4-6 on Fridays and 3-6 on Saturdays, join Becca at the market for hard cider happy hour. We’ll be doing bottle pours and have many of our ciders on tap for flights and growler fills as well. We were really pleased with how these worked out last year, so we are readying the same space at the side of the market where you can sit, enjoy a drink and pleasant conversation, with a view of the lake and our gardens. We look forward to seeing you rain or shine!

How fitting that the Prince Tribute hard cider returned during this rainy May

Local Products: We try to offer as many local and Michigan made products as we can. Our market is beginning to fill out with some of these and you’ll find them in the cooler, to the bakery to around on various shelves and the wall. You should be able to get just about everything you need for your weekend activities right here….from bread, to cheese or meat to accompany your fresh produce.

Happenings on the farm: 

Check out the antique blacksmith’s table in the center of the market for lots of information about what is going on here locally and in Michigan.  We encourage you to discover some of the many treasures we have here in St. Joseph County.  The 2018 Michigan Farm Fun directories came. These are a “must have” for your vehicle glove box in order to visit the many wonderful farms in your travels around the state. We are proud to be a member of the Michigan Agritourism Association.

We were able to plant additional apple trees along with sweet and tart cherry trees before the next rain came.

New heirloom trees next to our future U-pick apple orchard

We added about 50 semi dwarf cherry trees to the future U-Pick cherry orchard

We getting a lot of questions on strawberries. So here’s what we know. They will be later than normal due to the cold spring. Please check back with us the week of June 5th for more information. They are blooming and forming strawberries and it looks like it will be a good crop this year! Next week we will finalize pricing and start taking orders for flats. Nothing like a Michigan strawberry!

Thanks as always for buying local, from everyone at Corey Lake Orchards. We hope everyone has a pleasant and safe weekend.

Our family is committed to this area and are working to support the community in every way that we can to have it be the vibrant town of yesteryear. Here is an update from Dave Vago, Executive Director of DDA, Three Rivers.

The Three Rivers Main Street program welcomes you back for another year of exciting activities on the lakes and in downtown Three Rivers! It’s been a busy winter and spring for us. We’ve been working on stepping up our game in recruiting new businesses to our downtown, and the revitalization progress continues. We’ve got two dining establishments under construction. Venue 45, located at 45 North Main Street, will be a pop-up, fine dining establishment when it opens for business, featuring periodic guest chefs operating the restaurant as if it were their own. In between chefs, it will be available as an event rental venue. Take a peek in through the window–owners John and Sherri Rivers have done a beautiful job on the renovation so far. Also recently begun was work on the future Landmark Taphouse and Grille at 19-23 North Main. This project began just a few weeks ago and is moving forward very aggressively. We expect that later this year, you’ll be able to stop in for lunch or dinner and enjoy a wide selection of items on tap.

In the meantime, our stores, service businesses, bars, and restaurants are open for business and ready for you to come in and enjoy a meal, a cool drink, a haircut, or to shop. We’re kicking off this season’s First Fridays series in Downtown Three Rivers with an Ice Cream Social next Friday, June 1st. The Main Street program will offer free ice cream from 5 to 8 pm, and the business owners will feature toppings that you can walk up and down the block and collect. This event concurs with the Farmers’ Market’s monthly Movies in the Park event, just behind the west side of downtown that same evening. It’s a great time for a family-friendly outing in Three Rivers. We hope you will join us!

Best,

Dave