We picked more peaches this week than in any single week ever in the 50 plus years of the farm. Whew, we are tired. The peaches reached peak production this week, and with the heat, all of our mid-season peaches got ready at the same time. Due to this, we have a peach special of $12 a peck, $24 a half bushel, and $48 a bushel. This special is on through the weekend unless we run out sooner. So if you haven’t had your fill of fresh peaches, don’t delay. Due to lack of rain, they are very sweet this year. We have Coral Stars, Loring, and Glo Haven available. If you’d like to try one before you get some, please ask one of our clerks and we are happy to provide samples.

Here’s what is on the market now:

• FRUIT
  • Peaches: by the quart, peck, or bushels (please call to order bushels) 269-244-5690.
  • Picked Blueberries: by pint, quart, 5 lb. and 10 lb. box.  This is the end of the blueberries and we expect to have them only for a few more days.
  • Earli-Blaze Apples–we picked them today. This is our best summer apple.  It is a crunchy, mildly tart apple that is good for eating or cooking.  We will be using them to make apple pies in the bakery as it is one of only two apple varieties that we bake with.
  • Jersey Mac Apples (by the bushel or in smaller quantities) a summer apple which is like a Macintosh, soft skin and flesh, mildly tart
  • Canteloupe and Watermelon: Just starting to come on
• VEGETABLES
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Zucchini
  • Yellow Squash
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Field Tomatoes
  • Green Tomatoes
  • Field Cucumbers
  • Onions:
  • Peppers–all kinds and colors from sweet to hot
  • Eggplant
  • Potatoes:  Red Norland and Yukon Gold and Blue Adirondack – fresh dug!
  • Green Beans
  • Sweet Corn — incredibly sweet right now, by the dozen or bushel
  • U-Pick Herbs

Certified Organic Produce: 

• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – super sweet, like candy!
• Garlic! Becca went big planting garlic last year and we have a lot of very interesting varieties. Generally we grow two types, Porcelain (slightly less flavor but a much better keeper) and Rocambole (amazing flavor, only keeps until December or so). We grow a lot of varieties within these groups so check out Becca’s notes in the market.
• Lettuce, though it’s lagging from the hot weather. Lettuce is often a bit slow in August due to the sun and heat. Call ahead and have us save you some if you know you want it – 269 244 5690.
• Cabbage
• Kale
• Collards
• Cucumbers
• Roma Paste tomatoes, Slicer tomatoes
• Eggplant – check out the Listada di Gandia, with its purple and white striped flesh. Very tender skin, excellent flavor, and just gorgeous color
• Peppers
• Tomatillos
• Basil

U-Pick opportunities: We currently do not have any thing for you to pick right now. Waiting on grapes (late September) and apples.

Our next U-Pick fruit opportunity will be when fall apples and grapes arrive. Stay tuned for more info as we get closer to apple season.

Bakery Update: We are happy to have fresh apples to bake with, so many of you have been wanting apple pie! Just call us at 269-244-5690 for bread orders or anything else you would like to order to make sure we have.

We will be making fresh apple pie tonight!

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Zucchini Chocolate Chip, Cut Out Sugar, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Peanut Butter, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Cherry White Chocolate Chip
• Pies: Apple, Blueberry, Peachy Berry, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will also have Peach Glaze pie available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Blueberry-Zucchini, Whole Wheat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Honey Oat, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns and Hot Dog Buns. We are partnering again with La Brea bakery this year and will have the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Roasted Garlic Loaf, Sourdough, and Jalapeño Cheese
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Muffins: Banana Nut, Blueberry, Lemon Poppyseed, Pistachio, Raisin Bran, Chocolate, and Cherry Almond. 
• Donuts: We will have our Blueberry, Buttermilk, and Cherry Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will also have Cherry Fritters, Vanilla Fluff Longjohns, Yeast Twists, Bavarian Cream (Custard) Longjohns, Raspberry Bismarks, and Yeast Rings (available all week)
• Slushies – Grape

Alcohol offerings: Afternoon, Cherry/Sage, Blueberry, Sweet Cider, Ginger, Hopped, and Preach! Yes, last year’s crowd favorite, our pear/peach cider, is back in stock! We have cherry wine and Kaiser Cyser as well. We’ll have a few additional ciders on tap during our hard cider happy hour. This weekend we’ll have hard cider tastings:

• Friday from 4-6
• Saturday from 3-6

Stop on by to sample some cider. On tap right now: Black Currant/Cacao, Afternoon, Blueberry, Strawberry, Cherry/Sage, Rhubarb, Brunch, and Hopped ciders. If we run out of one thing, we may replace it with something else, so get it while you can! During tasting hours, feel free to bring your own clean 32 oz. or 64 oz. growler if you’d like one filled, or buy a new growler here at the market to take home fresh draft cider. And of course, we have our usual brandy house tours with Bruce from 1-3 on Saturdays, and full range of brandy offerings.

Fruit and vegetable update and forecast: To order please call us on 269-244-5690

• Sweet Corn: We have plenty coming in now, if you are looking for large quantities to freeze or for a large gathering, we have it by the bushel. Bushel pricing (5 dozen) is $20. It helps us if you can call and pre-order as we pick daily to make sure it is fresh. We have planted enough sweet corn to have it through the month of August, if the weather cooperates.
• Peaches: All our peach varieties are freestone. The bushels ready now are Coral Star, Loring and Glo Haven. We have lots of bushels available right now. Different varieties will come in later.
• Plums: We do not have a very large crop of plums and will not be able to have any by the bushel this year.
• Bartlett Pears: We have a good pear crop which looks like they will be ready the week of August 21st. Bushels will be $35 of sorted and sized pears. If you want bushels to can, please call and get added to our list.
• Tomatoes: We are now bringing in tomatoes from the field. We are taking bushel orders for “firsts” and “seconds” tomatoes which are blemished but great for salsa, juice, etc. We are almost to the end of our wait list for those desiring bushels. If you want to be added, please give us a call. We will not be able to offer U-Pick tomatoes at this time, but will evaluate in late August and may be able to offer U-PIck then. Picked tomatoes will be $20 a bushel (for first quality). If you need a lot of tomatoes (3 bushel or more) -we will offer a quantity discount of $18 a bushel for firsts. Seconds will be $14 a bushel.
• Apples: We have a good crop of apples this year and will provide an update closer to fall.
• Grapes: The Concord grapes are beginning to turn color. We have a good crop of both Concord (purple) and Niagara (white) grapes. These are usually ready the last week of September of first week of October.

Happenings on the farm:

This has been a huge harvest week again as the summer bounty is upon us. As we update this post we frankly are a little tired of the heat, really-really wishing it would rain, and just plain tired! But we’ve been here before and we will be here again. Thanks to all of you for coming out; watching peach juice drip down your face, telling us this was the best cantaloupe you ever ate, that you consumed the entire box of sungold tomatoes before you got home and that you had to come back for another pie because the first one was is already gone (and dinner hasn’t even been served!) is what keeps us going!

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards appreciates you buying local, and we hope to see you soon.

___________________________________________________________________________

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 the weekly update from Dave Vago, Executive Director of DDA, Three Rivers.

The smell of peaches wafting through the open air market right now is so amazing, smells are free! But there is competition from the smells of cantaloupe and our newly hung onions!

Here’s what is on the market now:

• FRUIT
  • Peaches: by the quart, peck, or bushels (please call to order bushels)  269-244-5690.
  • Picked Blueberries: by pint, quart, 5 lb. and 10 lb. box. (Note: we expect to have blueberries for about 10 more days…)
  • Lodi Apples (by the pound and bushels). This is a green, very tart apple loved by many for applesauce or because they love tart flavors that shock their taste buds
  • Jersey Mac Apples (by the bushel or in smaller quantities) a summer apple which is like a Macintosh, soft skin and flesh, mildly tart
  • Canteloupe and Watermelon: Just starting to come on
• VEGETABLES
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Zucchini
  • Yellow Squash
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Field Tomatoes
  • Green Tomatoes
  • Field Cucumbers
  • Onions: fresh-pulled with green tops
  • Peppers–all kinds and colors from sweet to hot
  • Eggplant
  • Potatoes:  Red Norland and Yukon Gold and Blue Adirondack – fresh dug!
  • Green Beans
  • Sweet Corn — incredibly sweet right now, by the dozen or bushel
  • U-Pick Herbs

Certified Organic Produce: 

• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – super sweet, like candy! We have so many right now,  Pick some up!
• Garlic! Becca went big planting garlic last year and we have a lot of very interesting varieties. Generally we grow two types, Porcelain (slightly less flavor but a much better keeper) and Rocambole (amazing flavor, only keeps until December or so). We grow a lot of varieties within these groups so check out Becca’s notes in the market.
• Lettuce, though it’s lagging from the hot weather. Lettuce is often a bit slow in August due to the sun and heat.
• Cabbage.
• Kale
• Collards
• Cucumbers
• Roma paste tomatoes, slicer tomatoes
• Eggplant – check out the Listada di Gandia, with its purple and white striped flesh. Very tender skin, excellent flavor
• Peppers
• Tomatillos
• Basil

U-Pick opportunities:  We currently do not have any thing for you to pick right now. Our blueberry field has just a few left but you are welcome to go out for the experience and pick a handful or so. Blueberry picking is still going strong in much of Southwest Michigan and we would recommend Brookside Farms as a great place to go. They are located in Paw Paw, their phone number is 269-657-3500 or find them online at:  http://brooksidefarmsmi.com/

Our next U-Pick fruit opportunity will be when fall apples and grapes arrive.  Stay tuned for more info as we get closer to apple season.

Bakery Update:  Peaches are taking center stage in the bakery and you can get a fresh glazed peach pie, a regular peach pie, or a peachy-berry this weekend!. Just call us at 269-244-5690 for bread orders or anything else you would like to order to make sure we have.

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Zucchini Chocolate Chip, Cut Out Sugar, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Peanut Butter, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Cherry White Chocolate Chip
• Pies: Blueberry, Peachy berry, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will also have Peach Glaze pie available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Blueberry-Zucchini, Whole Wheat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Honey Oat, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns and Hot Dog Buns. We are partnering again with La Brea bakery this year and will have the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Roasted Garlic Loaf, Sourdough, and Jalapeño Cheese
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Muffins: Banana Nut, Blueberry, Lemon Poppyseed, Pistachio, Raisin Bran, Chocolate, and Cherry Almond. 
• Donuts: We will have our Blueberry, Buttermilk, and Cherry Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will also have Cherry Fritters, Vanilla Fluff Longjohns, Yeast Twists, Bavarian Cream (Custard) Longjohns, Raspberry Bismarks, and Yeast Rings (available all week)
• Slushies –  Grape

Alcohol offerings: Afternoon, Cherry/Sage, Blueberry, Rhubarbary Coast (rhubarb), Sweet Cider, Ginger, Hopped, and Preach! Yes, last year’s crowd favorite, our pear/peach cider, is back in stock! We have cherry wine and Kaiser Cyser as well. We’ll have a few additional ciders on tap during our hard cider happy hour. This weekend we’ll have hard cider tastings:

• Friday from 4-6
• Saturday from 3-6

Stop on by to sample some cider. On tap right now: Afternoon, Bark Bite, Blueberry, Strawberry, Cherry/Sage, Rhubarb, Brunch, and Hopped ciders. If we run out of one thing, we may replace it with something else, so get it while you can! During tasting hours, feel free to bring your own clean 32 oz. or 64 oz. growler if you’d like one filled, or buy a new growler here at the market to take home fresh draft cider. And of course, we have our usual brandy house tours with Bruce from 1-3 on Saturdays, and full range of brandy offerings.

Fruit and vegetable update:  To order please call us on 269-244-5690

• Sweet Corn: We have plenty coming in now, if you are looking for large quantities to freeze or for a large gathering, we have it by the bushel. Bushel pricing (5 dozen) is $20. It helps us if you can call and pre-order as we pick daily to make sure it is fresh.  We have planted enough sweet corn to have it through the month of August, if the weather cooperates.
• Peaches: Truckloads of peaches are finally rolling in, much to the relief of our overloaded peach tree branches.  We are calling everyone on our list who requested bushels to get yours to you in the next few days or in some of the next pickings which will happen over the next 10 days. IF you have not received a call, please call us back and let us know when you would like them. Peaches will be $50 a bushel this year. Please add your name on our list if you’d like to pre-order. All our peach varieties are freestone.  The bushels ready now are a mix of some Red Havens and Flamin-Fury.

• Plums: We do not have a very large crop of plums and will not be able to have any by the bushel this year.
• Bartlett Pears: We have a good pear crop which looks like they will be ready the week of August 21st. Bushels will be $35 of sorted and sized pears. If you want bushels to can, please call and get added to our list.
• Tomatoes: We are now bringing in tomatoes from the field. We are taking bushel orders for “firsts” and “seconds” tomatoes which are blemished but great for salsa, juice, etc.  We have started calling people on our bushel list and will continue to work our way thru the list. We will not be able to offer U-Pick tomatoes at this time, but will evaluate in late August and may be able to offer U-PIck then. Picked tomatoes will be $20 a bushel (for first quality). If you need a lot of tomatoes (3 bushel or more) -we will offer a quantity discount of $18 a bushel for firsts. Seconds will be $14 a bushel.
• Apples: We have a good crop of apples this year and will provide an update closer to fall.

Happenings on the farm:

Our brains were mired in sweet corn last week,  but with the number of peaches we are picking that’s on the top of our minds and tongue. I found myself calling everything a peach today, including a bushel of green beans!

This has been a big harvest week as the summer bounty is upon us. We have picked lots of peaches, green beans, tomatoes, new potatoes, peppers, corn, and so many bushels of zucchini and buckets of organic Sungold tomatoes! We also started our onion harvest which you can see and smell as you enter the market!

Truckloads filled with onions

We are loving this weather, nice cool nights and warm days are perfect for getting the finishing growth on our fall apples and grapes.  Plus who doesn’t love the cool breeze coming in their windows at night?  While we are loving this weather, a bit of rain would be nice!

We loved hosting the “All Things Local–Downtown to Down Home” event last weekend. Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the afternoon with us. A special thanks to the vendors, musicians, artists, authors and our own staff for making it such a great day!

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards appreciates you buying local, and we hope to see you soon.

___________________________________________________________________________

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 the weekly own update from Dave Vago, Executive Director of DDA, Three Rivers. 

We are all very excited for this special event we have this Sunday, August 6th – All Things Local: “Downtown to Down Home” Celebration right here at our farm. From 11 to 3 we’ll be featuring food, drink art, music, book signings by local authors and more. Essentially we are bringing “downtown” here to the farm for you to experience more about our community all in one place as part of our efforts to connect with our downdown community. Pick up a flyer at the market, get it on Facebook, or see it below.

Here’s what is on the market now:

• FRUIT
  • Picked Blueberries: by pint, quart, 5 lb. and 10 lb. box. (Note: we expect to have blueberries through most of August, though of course this is weather dependent
  • Lodi Apples (by the pound and bushels). This will be the last week for them, this is a green, very tart apple loved by many for applesauce or because they love tart flavors that shock their taste buds
  • Jersey Mac Apples (1/4 pecks and 1/2 pecks ), a summer apple which is like a Macintosh, soft skin and flesh, mildly tart
  • Canteloupe and watermelon. Just starting to come on
• VEGETABLES
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Zucchini
  • Yellow Squash
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Field Tomatoes
  • Green Tomatoes
  • Field Cucumbers
  • Onions: fresh-pulled with green tops
  • Peppers–all kinds and colors from sweet to hot
  • Eggplant
  • Potatoes:  Red Norland and Yukon Gold and Blue Adirondack – fresh dug!
  • Green Beans
  • Sweet Corn — incredibly sweet right now, by the dozen or bushel
  • U-Pick Herbs

Certified Organic Produce: 

• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – super sweet, like candy! We have so many right now,  Pick some up!
• Lettuce, though it’s lagging from the hot weather. Lettuce is often a bit slow in August due to the sun and heat.
• Cabbage. Becca grows caraflex cabbage, which is a smaller, “personal” size (1-2 lb. on each head) and known for its delicate, tender, sweet leaves.
• Kale
• Collards
• Garlic
• Cucumbers
• Roma paste tomatoes, slicer tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Peppers
• Tomatillos
• Basil

U-Pick opportunities:  We currently do not have any thing for you to pick right now. Our blueberry field has just a few left but you are welcome to go out for the experience and pick a handful or so. Blueberry picking is still going strong in much of Southwest Michigan and we would recommend Brookside Farms as a great place to go. They are located in Paw Paw, their phone number is 269-657-3500 or find them online at:  http://brooksidefarmsmi.com/

Our next U-Pick fruit opportunity will be when fall apples and grapes arrive.  Stay tuned for more info as we get closer to apple season.

Bakery Update: Yes, our popular blueberry-zucchini bread is here while we have fresh blueberries and zucchini. Due to this being such a labor-intensive bread to make (come watch us grate bushels of zucchini!) we do have a limited supply we can make per day. We know that many of you like to freeze this bread, so it would help us if you could place those orders with us and we will call you when we can fill those. This allows us to have as much on hand as we can to ensure everyone can get a loaf or two. Just call us at 269-244-5690 for bread orders or anything else you would like to order.

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Zucchini Chocolate Chip, Cut Out Sugar, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Peanut Butter, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Cherry White Chocolate Chip
• Pies: Blueberry, Blueberry Rhubarb, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will also have Blueberry Glaze pie available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Blueberry-Zucchini, Whole Wheat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Honey Oat, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns and Hot Dog Buns. We are partnering again with La Brea bakery this year and will have the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Roasted Garlic Loaf, Sourdough, and Jalapeño Cheese
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Muffins: Banana Nut, Blueberry, Lemon Poppyseed, Pistachio, Raisin Bran, Chocolate, and Cherry Almond. 
• Donuts: We will have our Blueberry, Buttermilk, and Cherry Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will also have Cherry Fritters, Vanilla Fluff Longjohns, Yeast Twists, Bavarian Cream (Custard) Longjohns, Raspberry Bismarks, and Yeast Rings (available all week)
• Slushies – Apple Cider, Grape

Alcohol offerings: Afternoon, Cherry/Sage, Blueberry, Rhubarbary Coast (rhubarb), Sweet Cider, Ginger, Hopped, and Preach! Yes, last year’s crowd favorite, our pear/peach cider, is back in stock! We have cherry wine and Kaiser Cyser as well. We’ll have a few additional ciders on tap during our hard cider happy hour. This weekend we’ll have hard cider tastings:

• Friday from 4-6
• Saturday from 3-6

Stop on by to sample some cider. On tap right now: Afternoon, Bark Bite, Blueberry, Strawberry, Cherry/Sage, Rhubarb, Brunch, and Hopped ciders. If we run out of one thing, we may replace it with something else, so get it while you can! During tasting hours, feel free to bring your own clean 32 oz. or 64 oz. growler if you’d like one filled, or buy a new growler here at the market to take home fresh draft cider. And of course, we have our usual brandy house tours with Bruce from 1-3 on Saturdays, and full range of brandy offerings.

Fruit and vegetable update:  To order please call us on 269-244-5690

• Green Beans: They are finally coming in now so we have them available by the pound. We will be calling everyone on the green been bushel list within a week and let you know where we are with getting your order filled. Bushel pricing is $35 a bushel.
• Sweet Corn: We have plenty coming in now, if you are looking for large quantities to freeze or for a large gathering, we have it by the bushel. Bushel pricing (5 dozen) is $20. It helps us if you can call and pre-order as we pick daily to make sure it is fresh.  We have planted enough sweet corn to have it through the month of August, if the weather cooperates.
• Peaches: As we are able to pick a few peaches here and there, we are offering them by the quart but they sell out fast. Sorry for those of you who have been trying to get your first peach taste of the year. Our trees either have too many peaches (and branches breaking despite how many times we thinned them) or no peaches.  Our early peaches froze out in the spring, so we only have a few coming in right now. We will be picking more on Saturday and will have these by the quart, we will have a few more Red Havens and some Flamin Fury.  We hope to be able to offer bushels when our later peach called Coral Star comes in mid August. Peaches will be $50 a bushel this year. Please add your name on our list if you’d like to pre-order. All our peach varieties are freestone.
• Plums: We do not have a very large crop of plums and will not be able to have any by the bushel this year.
• Bartlett Pears: We have a good pear crop (usually 3rd week of August). If you want bushels to can, please call and get added to our list. We do not have a price on these yet.
• Tomatoes: Despite numerous problems (animals eating 800 plants and other issues) we will have a good tomato crop. We have just started bringing in some tomatoes from the field; they are coming! We are taking bushel orders for “firsts” and “seconds” tomatoes which are blemished but great for salsa, juice, etc.  We will start calling folks on bushel orders very soon. We will not be able to offer U-Pick tomatoes, but will evaluate in late August and may be able to offer U-PIck then. Picked tomatoes will be $20 a bushel (for first quality). If you need a lot of tomatoes (3 bushel or more) -we will offer a quantity discount of $18 a bushel for firsts. Seconds will be $14 a bushel.
• Apples: We have a good crop of apples this year and will provide an update closer to fall.

Happenings on the farm:

We have been soooo busy this week with the heat making everything ripen fast, that it seems that all we do is pick, wash, pack, sell, sleep and repeat. We spent many hours this week planning and preparing for Sunday’s event.  We’ll be ready–the weather is supposed to be great.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards appreciates you buying local, and we hope to see you this 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. The weekly town update from Dave Vago, Executive Director of DDA, Three Rivers is not here this week, because he will be at the “All Things Local” celebration on Sunday and would love to talk and meet you then.  His update will be back next week. 

Save the date for our August 6th All Things Local:  “Downtown to Down Home” Celebration.  From 11 to 3 on that Sunday we’ll be featuring food, drink art, music, book signings by local authors and more. Pick up a flyer at the market, see the schedule at the bottom of this post, or find it on our Facebook page as an event**

Here’s what is on the market now:

• FRUIT
  • Picked Blueberries: by pint, quart, 5 lb. and 10 lb. box  (Note we expect to have blueberries through most of August) 
  • Lodi Apples (by the pound and bushels)  This will be the last week for them, this is a green, very tart apple loved by many for applesauce or because they love tart flavors that shock their taste buds
  • Jersey Mac Apples (1/4 pecks and 1/2 pecks ) a summer apple which is like a Macintosh, soft skin and flesh, mildly tart
  • Canteloupe– Just starting to come on
• VEGETABLES
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Zucchini
  • Yellow Squash
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Greenhouse Tomatoes and Greenhouse Cucumbers
  • Green Tomatoes
  • Field Cucumbers
  • Onions: fresh-pulled with green tops
  • Peppers–all kinds and colors from sweet to hot
  • Eggplant
  • Potatoes:  Red Norland and Yukon Gold and Blue Adirondack – fresh dug!
  • Green Beans
  • Sweet Corn — incredibly sweet right now, by the dozen or bushel
  • U-Pick Herbs
  • Check out the new Michigan made dip mixes to make up for vegetable or bread dipping.  Our staff taste-tested these last week and we mixed them with the local yogurt we carry.  One of our clever staff members scooped out the insides of a round zucchini and peppers to hold the dip!  Munching on cold vegetables with this tasty dip was the perfect thing after such a long hot day of work.
  • 

Organic Produce: 

• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – super sweet, like candy! We have so many right now,  Pick some up!
• Lettuce.
• Cabbage. Becca grows caraflex cabbage, which is a smaller, “personal” size (1-2 lb. on each head) and known for its delicate, tender, sweet leaves.
• Kale. Curly kale coming in very well right now! If you’d like a large quantity at a discount to make kale chips or other things that require a lot of kale, please call ahead and place an order. Our certified organic kale is $4/lb. for 2 lbs. or more but we do need you to call ahead so we can pick it fresh for you.
• Collards, green garlic, garlic scapes, cucumbers, Roma paste tomatoes, slicer tomatoes in right now, too. Eggplant and peppers coming in slowly, as are tomatillos. If you’d like us to pick you certified organic basil for pesto, please call ahead and place an order! It’s coming in very well now.

U-Pick opportunities:   We currently do not have any thing for you to pick right now.  Our blueberry field has just a few left but you are welcome to go out for the experience and pick a handful or so.  Blueberry picking is still going strong in Southwest Michigan and we would recommend Brookside Farms as a great place to go. They are located in Paw Paw, their phone number is 269-657-3500 or find them online at:  http://brooksidefarmsmi.com/

Our next U-Pick fruit opportunity will be when fall apples and grapes arrive.  Stay tuned for more info as we get closer to apple season.

Bakery Update: Yes, our popular blueberry-zucchini bread is here while we have fresh blueberries and zucchini. Due to this being such a  labor-intensive bread to make (come watch us grate bushels of zucchini!)  we do have a limited supply we can make per day. We know that many of you like to freeze this bread, so it would help us if you could place those orders with us and we will call you when we can fill those. This allows us to have as much on hand as we can to ensure everyone can get a loaf or two. Just call us at 269-244-5690 for bread orders or anything else you would like to order.

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Zucchini Chocolate Chip, Cut Out Sugar, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Peanut Butter, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Cherry White Chocolate Chip
• Pies: Blueberry, Blueberry Rhubarb, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will also have Blueberry Glaze pie, Chocolate Cream and Peanut Butter cream available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Blueberry-Zucchini, Whole Wheat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Honey Oat, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns and Hot Dog Buns. We are partnering again with La Brea bakery this year and will have the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Roasted Garlic Loaf, Sourdough, and Jalapeño Cheese
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Muffins: Banana Nut, Blueberry, Lemon Poppyseed, Pistachio, Raisin Bran, Chocolate, and Cherry Almond. 
• Donuts: We will have our Blueberry, Buttermilk, and Cherry Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will also have Cherry Fritters, Vanilla Fluff Longjohns, Yeast Twists, Bavarian Cream (Custard) Longjohns, Raspberry Bismarks, and Yeast Rings (available all week)
• Slushies – Apple Cider, Grape

Alcohol offerings: We’ve got a lot of varieties of bottled cider right now. Cherry/Sage, Blueberry, Rhubarbary Coast (rhubarb), Sweet Cider, Ginger, Prince Tribute, Hopped, Brunch (maple/vanilla), and Bark Bite (smoked hickory/oak). We have cherry wine and Kaiser Cyser as well. We’ll have a few additional ciders on tap during our hard cider happy hour. This weekend we’ll have hard cider tastings:

• Friday from 4-6
• Saturday from 3-6

Stop on by to sample some cider. On tap during tasting: Afternoon, Ginger, Bark Bite, Blueberry, Strawberry, Cherry/Sage, Rhubarb, Brunch, and Hopped ciders. If we run out of one thing, we may replace it with something else, so get it while you can! During tasting hours, feel free to bring your own clean 32 oz. or 64 oz. growler if you’d like one filled, or buy a new growler here at the market to take home fresh draft cider. And of course, we have our usual brandy house tours with Bruce from 1-3 on Saturdays, and full range of brandy offerings.

Fruit and vegetable update:  To order please call us on 269-244-5690

• Green Beans: They are finally coming in now so we have them available by the pound, and within a few weeks we should have enough to sell by the bushel. Please add your name to our bushel list if you want some.
• Sweet Corn: We  have plenty coming in now, if you are looking for large quantities to freeze or for a large gathering, we have it by the bushel.  It helps us if you can call and pre-order as we pick daily to make sure it is fresh.  We have planted enough sweet corn to have it through the month of August, if the weather cooperates.
• Peaches:  As we are able to pick a few peaches here and there, we are offering them by the quart but they sell out fast.  Sorry for those of you who have been trying to get your first peach taste of the year.  Our trees either have too many peaches (and branches breaking despite how many times we thinned them) or no peaches.  Our early peaches froze out in the spring, so we only have a few coming in right now.  We expect to have more as the mid-season peaches come in around August 5th.  We hope to be able to offer bushels. Call and get your name on our list if you’d like to pre-order. If you are looking for Red Haven peaches, we will not have any of those this year due to losing them in the spring.  We will be picking a few Flamin’ Fury peaches over the next week until our mid-season peach called Coral Star is ready.    All our peach varieties are freestone.
• Plums: We do not have a very large crop of plums and will not be able to have any by the bushel this year.
• Bartlett Pears: We have a good pear crop (usually 3rd week of August). If you want bushels to can, please call and get added to our list.
• Tomatoes: Despite numerous problems (animals eating 800 plants and other issues) we will have a good tomato crop. We have just started bringing in some tomatoes from the field; they are coming!  We are taking bushel orders for “firsts” and “seconds” tomatoes which are blemished but great for salsa, juice, etc.
• Apples: We have a good crop of apples this year and will provide an update closer to fall.

Happenings on the farm:

This was a really “corny” week here.  We picked, we packed, we moved, we delivered, and the abundance of sweet corn swirled in our minds constantly.  As many of you saw, we did a Facebook posting earlier this week to let everyone know we had corn, so much, that we’d try to donate when we could.  Much to our surprise, over 26,000 people have seen it, shared it and helped spread the word.   We were able to honor a good number of requests from local food banks, pantries, senior citizen homes and shared with as many different communities as we could, around 9,000 ears of corn.  It was pretty humbling to hear how these organizations will use this fresh corn and how many families they are able to feed.  One of the chefs in the Kalamazoo area made time to drive over and pick up the corn himself and told us how they prepare 8,000 meals a week for the homeless, disabled and folks who don’t know where there next meal will come from.  He says he loves being able to serve fresh produce because it makes a statement to those that they are serving that someone cares……cares enough to provide something which is in season and fresh–not out of a can.

We do a lot of succession planting here which means during the spring we plant things seven days to two weeks apart, especially things like corn and green beans, with the goal being that they will be spaced such that when one planting finishes, the next is ready—-(yes all the things we do behind the scenes to keep produce coming for you!)  But….when a heat wave or cold wave comes, which seems to be the new normal, all bets are off.  So what happens is that two and sometimes three plantings come in at the same time which is what happened this week with corn.  With fields overflowing, this puts farmers like us in a dilemma.  If we can’t sell it, do we pick it or leave it in the field?

We live in a world where people go hungry, so we will not leave food in the field if we can help it. Our farm philosophy has been to help others wherever we can, so our desire is to pick it before it spoils and get it to food banks and those in need.  In the past years when this situation occurred, we were overwhelmed and gratified with people who asked to help be part of this community caring.   Here’s how you can help us help others, if you feel so inclined. For customers who would like to help, for every one dozen of corn you buy at $5, if you want to put an additional $5 towards helping others, we will go pick, pack and donate two dozen on your behalf. We feel strange about asking for money for this, but we pay our employees fair wages for their work and it helps us cover that cost, plus packing and delivering so that we can afford to donate a substantial amount.

We will have a sign up sheet for this and provide a list of names to the food bank for all who helped with this – we want to be accountable to you and to them. Because of times like these, we maintain connections to all area food banks  Together, we can help make a difference and put fresh sweet corn on someone’s empty plate. We thank everyone who is able to help us with this effort, and understand if you can’t.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards appreciates you buying local, we are grateful to have you as part of our community.

___________________________________________________________________________

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 the weekly town update from Dave Vago, Executive Director of DDA, Three Rivers

Fun is the enjoyment of pleasure, particularly in leisure activities. Fun is an experience … Its meaning in in 1727 was “cheat, trick, hoax”, a meaning still retained in the phrase “to make fun of.” We are all about the first definition and couldn’t make it through each day if we didn’t have a little fun. So throughout this update, find out more about fun: here on the farm and in the community.

Here’s what is on the market now:

• Picked Blueberries: by pint, quart, 5 lb. and 10 lb. box  (Note we expect to have blueberries through most of August)
• U-Pick Herbs
• Lodi Apples (by the pound only this weekend, bushels coming this weekend)
• Jersey Mac Apples (by the pound and 1/4 peck right now)
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Peas
• Brussels Sprouts
• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Greenhouse Tomatoes and Greenhouse Cucumbers
• Green Tomatoes
• Field Cucumbers
• Onions: fresh-pulled with green tops
• Peppers–all kinds and colors from sweet to hot
• Eggplant
• Potatoes:  Red Norland and Yukon Gold and Blue Adirondack – fresh dug!
• Green Beans
• Sweet Corn — incredibly sweet right now and with the heat, we will have plenty thru the weekend
• Cut Flowers

Organic Produce: 

• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – super sweet, like candy! We have so many right now, they’re on special for a bit. Pick some up!
• Lettuce. We now offer 1# bags of certified organic lettuce for $5. Seems like a hit with customers! Lettuce is pretty good right now, a mix of baby lettuce and buttercrunch.
• Cabbage. Becca grows caraflex cabbage, which is a smaller, “personal” size (1-2 lb. on each head) and known for its delicate, tender, sweet leaves.
• Kale. Curly kale coming in very well right now! If you’d like a large quantity at a discount to make kale chips or other things that require a lot of kale, please call ahead and place an order. Our certified organic kale is $4/lb. for 2 lbs. or more but we do need you to call ahead so we can pick it fresh for you.
• Collards, green garlic, garlic scapes, cucumbers, Roma paste tomatoes, slicer tomatoes in right now too. Eggplant and peppers coming in slowly, as are tomatillos. If you’d like us to pick you certified organic basil for pesto, please call ahead and place an order! It’s coming in very well now.

U-Pick opportunities:

U-Pick Blueberries: We have a relatively small field compared to most major blueberry growers (only three acres), so our u-pick blueberries are for folks who just want to come over to pick a few pounds for the experience. In order to allow everyone to have a chance to pick some, we are limiting the picking to 10 pounds per family until more are ready. We are just finishing with the “Duke” variety and now the “Jersey” berries are coming on. This is a small blueberry, but very sweet.

• The hours for u-pick will be 8 until 5:45 each day, must be finished and checked out by 6 at market. It is best to come in the morning when it is cool!
• Pricing will be $2.00 a pound to pick (this makes it about $3.50 a quart).
• We will have them off and on probably through most of the month of July.
• We have buckets for you to pick in and boxes to send them home in.
• For anyone who wants large quantities, we would recommend Brookside Farms as a great place to go. They are located in Paw Paw, their phone number is 269-657-3500 or find them online at:  http://brooksidefarmsmi.com/

Bakery Update: Yes, our popular blueberry-zucchini bread is here while we have fresh blueberries and zucchini. Due to this being such a  labor-intensive bread to make (come watch us grate bushels of zucchini!)  we do have a limited supply we can make per day. We know that many of you like to freeze this bread, so it would help us if you could place those orders with us and we will call you when we can fill those. This allows us to have as much on hand as we can to ensure everyone can get a loaf or two. Just call us at 269-244-5690 for bread orders or anything else you would like to order.

Bakery offerings for the weekend will be:

• Cookies: Zucchini Chocolate Chip, Cut Out Sugar, Monster (chocolate chips, M&M’s peanut butter and oatmeal), Iced Lemon, Peanut Butter, Ginger Molasses, S’mores, and Cherry White Chocolate Chip
• Pies: Blueberry, Blueberry Rhubarb, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry Rhubarb. We will also have Blueberry Glaze pie available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• Bread: Blueberry-Zucchini, Whole Wheat, Cinnamon, Italian, Whole Grain, Honey Oat, Vegetable and Tuscan, as well as Hamburger Buns and Hot Dog Buns. We are partnering again with La Brea bakery this year and will have the following breads: Semolina Cheese, Roasted Garlic Loaf, Sourdough, and Jalapeño Cheese
• Cinnamon Rolls and Pecan Sticky Buns
• Assorted Dessert Bars
• Muffins: Banana Nut, Blueberry, Lemon Poppyseed, Pistachio, Raisin Bran, Chocolate,  and Cherry Almond. 
• Donuts: We will have our Blueberry, Buttermilk, and Cherry Cake Donuts available Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will also have Cherry Fritters, Vanilla Fluff Longjohns, Yeast Twists, Bavarian Cream (Custard) Longjohns, Raspberry Bismarks, and Yeast Rings (available all week)
• Slushies – Apple Cider, Grape

• 

  Blueberries and rhubarb make the perfect sweet-tart pie!

Alcohol offerings: We’ve got a lot of varieties of bottled cider right now. Cherry/Sage, Blueberry, Afternoon (chamomile/rooibos), Rhubarbary Coast (rhubarb), Sweet Cider, Ginger, Prince Tribute, Hopped, Brunch (maple/vanilla), and Bark Bite (smoked hickory/oak). We have cherry wine and Kaiser Cyser as well. We’ll have a few additional ciders on tap during our hard cider happy hour. This weekend we’ll have hard cider tastings:

• Friday from 4-6
• Saturday from 3-6

Stop on by to sample some cider. On tap during tasting: Afternoon, Ginger, Bark Bite, Blueberry, Strawberry, Cherry/Sage, Rhubarb, Brunch, and Hopped ciders. If we run out of one thing, we may replace it with something else, so get it while you can! During tasting hours, feel free to bring your own clean 32 oz. or 64 oz. growler if you’d like one filled, or buy a new growler here at the market to take home fresh draft cider. And of course, we have our usual brandy house tours with Bruce from 1-3 on Saturdays, and full range of brandy offerings.

Fruit and vegetable update:  To order please call us on 269-244-5690

• Green Beans: We had trouble with cold spring weather getting our first few plantings to make it, so they are a bit late but within a few weeks we should have enough to sell by the bushel. Please add your name to our bushel list if you want some.
• Sweet Corn: We should have plenty coming in now, if you are looking for large quantities to freeze or for a large gathering, sign up on our bushel list and we’ll call you. Each sweet corn variety we have planted will get sweeter as summer progresses.
• Peaches: Our trees either have too many peaches (and branches breaking despite how many times we thinned them) or no peaches.  ur early peaches froze out in the spring, so we will only have a few coming this next week. We do have a lot of mid-season and later peaches and hope to be able to offer bushels. Call and get your name on our list if you’d like to order.
• Plums: We do not have a very large crop of plums and will not be able to have any by the bushel this year.
• Bartlett Pears: We have a good pear crop (usually 3rd week of August). If you want bushels to can, please call and get added to our list.
• Tomatoes: Despite numerous problems (animals eating 800 plants and other issues) we will have a good tomato crop. Hope to start bringing in field tomatoes in a week to 10 days. Our greenhouse tomatoes are ending so we’re bridging the gap with tomatoes from an Indiana greenhouse. We are taking bushel orders for “firsts” tomatoes and “seconds” which are blemished but great for salsa, juice, etc.
• Apples: We have a good crop of apples this year and will provide an update closer to fall.

Fun Happenings on the farm:

We work really hard here, long hours and go home physically and mentally fatigued…but we do have our fun! When talking to our staff about what they find fun about working here there was one common theme—interaction with customers. Whether it is meeting them, helping them to find something, listening to how they cooked/grilled or roasted our vegetables, gushing about how beautiful our produce is (especially the cauliflower) and watching their reaction when they taste some of our samples, we do truly enjoy our customers.

Here were some specifics that we hope resonate with you:

“I love making the cinnamon rolls every morning….the whole process from smoothing out the dough, patting with cinnamon, cutting them, and then the customers coming in and smelling them baking!”

Cinnamon rolls ready to go in the oven

“You smile when you get home from work and realize you have cherry tomatoes that have made their way to your pocket!”

“It is so fun to watch almost every child pick out the donuts with eyes on them, and 99% of them eat the eyes first! It’s universal…”

“It’s really fun to figure out how to display produce, love getting creative with it!”

“Fun for me is being out in the orchard and vineyards with customers and seeing their joy of picking fruit!”

“It’s really fun to be the person creating hard ciders—trying different ways to flavor it from what we grow on the farm, and taste testing!”

“It’s amazingly fun to experience the “first” of everything when it comes into season, like the peaches this week–we couldn’t stop smelling them having missed that smell for one year.”

The first peaches of the season smelled so good!

We all have a lot of fun watching Mother Nature trick the weather forecast people everyday!

It’s so much fun to work with my granddaughter and the happiness we find in doing simple tasks together, like washing cherry tomatoes.

We hope you have a fun experience  on the farm when you visit. We’ve worked hard to create an inviting space and want you to enjoy it. Whether it is having a picnic on one of the yard tables while the kids play on the swings or go down the big slide, enjoying baked goods and produce at one of the many tables we have (some in the yard, some in the breezeway where our happy hours are–feel free to sit there or the space outside the bakery). We’ve planted coloring books, games, cookbooks, and some of our favorite books to read to your children.

What fun: A 5 pound box of blueberries and a cherry fritter by the herb garden

This is a great book to read to your children during blueberry season

Other local fun events: 

Experience fun this weekend at the Huss Future Festival. Many activities, great food, music, art and old fashion fun. Check it out here and try to make it over there.  https://www.facebook.com/events/1724948294463969/?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D Even Beth and Becca make a point to get to Future Fest despite busy farm Saturdays, we really like it!

Save the date for our August 6th All Things Local:  “Downtown to Down Home” Celebration.  From 11 to 3 on that Sunday we’ll be featuring food, drink art, music, book signings by local authors and more. Pick up a flyer at the market and stay tuned here and on Facebook for more details.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards appreciates you buying local.  Hope to see you soon.  Have a fun week!

___________________________________________________________________________

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 the weekly town update from Dave Vago, Executive Director of DDA, Three Rivers