Summer is back again, but here at the orchard, we’re definitely all things fall!  Each week new apple varieties are coming in, along with more fall ornamentals.  We finally have pumpkins too!  So much color and fun things to look at.  Don’t miss seeing the giant pumpkins in front of the onion barn!

 

It’s Apple Season!  Here’s what we have in the market for sale now:  

• Mollie’s Delicious is a large, sweet eating apple. (not a cooking apple)  There are only a few bags left!
• Gala is a great eating and cooking apple with a crisp snappy bite over a mellow sweetness
• 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.  Sold by the pound only, ($2).
• 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.  There are only a few more bags of these left!
• McIntosh: This is a soft, white fleshed apple, very popular for baking and applesauce.
• Jon-A-Mac: This is a good cooking or eating apple.  It has all of the best qualities of a Jonathan and a McIntosh. A favorite for apple sauce.
• 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 and juices really well.

Apple picking will be available on Saturday and Sunday only this year, during our business hours of 8 until 6.  Please check in at the market first to get directions as you will be driving to the orchard.  We need everyone checked out by 6, so you must be in the apple orchard by 5:30, and checked in at the market by 5:15.  Check our website or call us to see which apple varieties will be available which weekends.

This Saturday and Sunday the U-Pick Apples varieties available are limited to Gala, Jonathon, Cortland, and Yellow and Red Delicious until more varieties ripen.  The trees are full and they are fun to pick!  The Yellow and Red delicious are not all ripe yet, so we’d ask that you carefully “spot pick” only the ones that are the ripest.  Our orchard guides can help you with this.  If you are trying to pick a lot of Red or Yellow Delicious, you should wait another week.

Apple pricing for the year:  The price is the same for picked apples or u-pick apples.  With the exception of a few special varieties (like Honeycrisp) all the apples will be: $26 a bushel**, $14 a half-bushel, $8.00 a peck (1/4 of a bushel), $6 a half-peck, $3.50 a 1/4 peck and $1.00 a pound. **When we have bushels available.

Wondering when your favorite apple will be ready?  Each week we will publish an apple estimate at the end of this post.***

Apple Cider update:  We made our first cider today, and will jug it Friday.  We should have it available after 10 am!

White Niagara Grape Update: We are going to open the white Niagara grapes for U-pick on Saturday 9-21 for the season. The white Niagara are typically one week ahead of the purple Concord; sugar tests on these done today (16.9 brix) indicate they are plenty sweet and ready.  We have less than half of a crop of these this year due to the winter freeze, so they may not last long.  For those trying to get huge amounts of white grapes (like 500 pounds or more), we would suggest this is not the year to try to pick them here.  Sorry.

Purple Concord grape update:  We are going to open up one vineyard of purple Concord grapes this weekend that is riper than the other vineyards, for those who are trying to pick both colors at the same time, or for those who can only come this weekend.  The Concord grapes measured 13.4 brix today, and they need to be at least 15 brix or more for optimal sweetness.  We feel the Concord grape peak ripeness will be the week of 9-30 and after.  We encourage everyone to wait if they can.  There is a good crop Concord grapes, and the longer customers wait, the sweeter/riper they will get.   Additional information about grape picking can be found below.**

Picked grapes: We are taking orders for bushels of picked grapes both white Niagara and purple Concord.  They are $28 a bushel.

What is on the market now:

• Vegetables:  sweet corn,  fresh dug onions, eggplant, peppers, cherry/grape tomatoes, regular field tomatoes–red and green, spaghetti squash, winter/hard squash, garlic, shallots 
• Fruit: apples
• U-pick herbs 
• U-Pick flowers
• Dried sunflower heads–to feed your feathered friends

This weekend in the bakery  We are making a new pie which will be available this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; Turtle Cheesecake Pie! This delicious pie is cheesecake filling in our made from scratch crust, then it is topped with pecans, caramel, chocolate, and whipped cream! Yum! We are still taking orders for Apple Dumplings! We will only have them available the weekend of October 4-6,  and by order only, and they are sold in packages of 2.  If you would like anything reserved or to order apple dumplings, give us a call at 269-244-5690 and we will be happy to save it for you!

This weekend’s offerings will be:

• Cookies:  Cut-out cookies, Frosted Lemon, M&M “Monster”, Chaos, Mudslide, and Salted Caramel
• Pies:   Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Strawberry Rhubarb, and Turtle Cheesecake (available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).
• Apple Crisp
• Breads: Wheat and Rye Herb, Potato Scallion, and Herb Baguette.  Whole Wheat, Honey Oatmeal, Cinnamon, Italian, Tuscan,  Hamburger and Hotdog Buns
• Cinnamon Rolls, Sticky Buns, Yeast Donuts, muffins, scones
• Dessert bars: peanut butter mousse, chocolate caramel, lemon burst, chocolate truffle, chocolate and white mousse
• Fall flavors cake donuts: Buttermilk, Apple Cider, and Pumpkin (Available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
• Slushies- 3 flavors; Unpasteurized Apple Cider, White Grape Peach, and Grape blend. 

Look for our “take and bake” pies for you to stock up on in your freezer (for you to indulge in). “Take and bake” pie choices are all large-9″ pies and available flavors in the freezer now.

Alcohol offerings:

• Brandies:  Pear, Grape, Apple, Cherry, Peach, and Grappa
• Rye Whiskey
• Wines: Double Cherry and New:  Peach and Honey (already a favorite by those who have tried it)
• Hard Cider flavors: A fall favorite is back:  Preach!  A great blend of pears and peaches! Standard Dry, Standard Sweet,  Bark Bite, Cortabella, Currant/Cacoa,  United Squash Federation, Ginger, Strawberry and Brunch.
• Brandy tours and tasting is available every Saturday from 1 until 3 pm, in the Brandy Barn/Distillery    We offer brandy, wine and some hard cider samples. It’s always an interesting and fun experience.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards appreciates you buying local!  We hope to see you soon!

Reminder:  Corey Lake Orchards is closed every Tuesday.  We will continue to share this notice since it is a major change.  As a small family business, we have begun to realize that to best serve our customers with an exceptional product and experience, we need a down day once per week to regroup, reorganize, and re-energize.

**Additional grape information:

• Picking hours: Our picking hours are 8 am to 6 pm every day except Tuesday (when we are closed) , we ask that you be finished and checked out by 6,  Sorry, for everyone’s safety, we have suspended evening picking hours this year due to the Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) mosquito-borne disease threat in Southwest Michigan.
• Please check in at the main market on Corey Lake Road before you start.  You will be directed to the vineyard in which we are picking that day and be assigned rows to pick on by our vineyard  supervisor.
• 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! If you don’t have 5 gallon buckets to pick in, we will loan you ours, but please bring something to take your grapes back home in. (Boxes, plastic tubs, etc.)
• Pricing : 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):
  • 45 cents a pound for under 100 pounds, 1 five-gallon bucket or a ½ bushel = $9
  • Over 100 pounds; 27.5 cents a pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel = $5.50

***Apple Estimate Chart for 2019:  Updated 9-12-9  2019

Variety	Crop Size Estimate	U-Pick Available?   Red means they are ready now for Saturday/Sunday picking	Approximate Week Ready–Please check back as weather will can change date earlier or later	Should order in advance
Braeburn	good	no	8-Oct	no
Cameo	good	yes	15-Oct	no
Cortland	fair	yes	in market now	no
Fuji	good	yes	15-Oct	no
Gala	good	yes	In market now	no
Golden Delicious	good	yes* (spot pick)	23-Sep	no
Golden Supreme	None	————–	——————–	——————
Honey Crisp	fair	no	In market now	no
Ida Red	few*	yes	30-Sep	yes
Jona Mac	good	All picked	In market now	no
JonaGold	good	All picked	In market now	no
Jonathon	fair	yes	23-Sep	no
McIntosh	good	All picked	In market now	no
Molly’s Del	good	All picked	in market now	no
Mutsu	few*	yes	30-Sep	yes
Northern Spy	few	no	30-Sep	yes
Pink Lady	good	no	23-Oct	no
Red Delicious	good	yes* (spot pick)	30-Sep	no
Rome	fair	yes	23-Oct	no

So, summer has returned for a few days, but we are moving forward with fall and hope the weather will soon match up.  More apples are in at the market, fall ornamentals of mums, gourds, colored corn, mini-pumpkins have added color, plus we have continued decorating around the old white truck, the fire truck and the old tractors we have out and about.

It’s Apple Season!  Here’s what we have in the market for sale now:  

• Mollie’s Delicious is a large, sweet eating apple. (not a cooking apple)
• Gala is a great eating and cooking apple. It has a crisp snappy bite over a mellow sweetness
• 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. Sold by the pound only, ($2).
• 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
• McIntosh: This is a soft, white fleshed apple, very popular for baking and applesauce.
• Earli-Blaze: This is a great cooking or eating apple, we use it in our own bakery!

This weekend we will have U-Pick Apples  again on Saturday and Sunday.   The varieties available now are limited to Gala and Jon-A-Mac. until more varieties ripen.  The trees are full and they are fun to pick! We know that many of you look forward to the annual  “apple picking experience” with your family followed by a “U-pick donut” experience!

Apple pricing for the year:  The price is the same for picked apples or u-pick apples.  With the exception of a few special varieties (like Honeycrisp) all the apples will be: $26 a bushel**, $14 a half-bushel, $8.00 a peck (1/4 of a bushel), $6 a half-peck, $3.50 a 1/4 peck and $1.00 a pound. **When we have bushels available.

Apple picking will be available on Saturday and Sunday only this year, during our business hours of 8 until 6.  Please check in at the market first to get directions and you will be driving to the orchard.   We need everyone checked out by 6, so you must be in the apple orchard by 5:30, and checked in at the market by 5:15.  Check our website or call us to see which apple varieties will be available which weekends.

Wondering when your favorite apple will be ready?  Each week we will publish an apple estimate at the end of this post.***

Apple Cider update:  We are gearing up to make sweet cider, just waiting for a few more apple varieties so we have a nice mix to be sweet.  Give us a week or so, thanks.

Grape Update: You can smell the grapes and they are turning color and softening.  We have a decent  crop of the purple Concord, but we lost about 40% of our white Niagara grapes to the winter freeze, so we will have fewer of those.  Our best guess now is the white grapes could be ready the week of 9-16 and the purple grapes the week of 9-30. 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 later for an update.  Additional information about grape picking can be found below.**

Picked grapes: We are taking orders for bushels of picked grapes both white Niagara and purple Concord.  They are $28 a bushel.

What is on the market now:

• Vegetables:  sweet corn,  fresh dug onions, brussel sprouts, eggplant, peppers, cherry/grape tomatoes, regular field tomatoes–red and green, spaghetti squash, winter/hard squash, garlic, shallots 
• Fruit: apples, seeded watermelon
• U-pick herbs 
• U-Pick flowers
• Dried sunflower heads–to feed your feathered friends

Tomato update:  We are still working through the many orders for canning tomatoes, there has been an increased demand for them due to other farms losing theirs in hail storms.  We will try our best to fill orders, but our tomato fields are winding down to the end.  None of us want tomatoes to be gone for the year yet, that’s for sure.

Bakery update:  We are starting to take orders for Apple Dumplings! These are made with a whole Cortland apple which is peeled, cored, and then wrapped in our made from scratch pie dough. They are then filled with cinnamon sugar and have our special family recipe sauce poured over them! We will only have them available the weekend of October 4-6,  by order only.  They are sold in packages of 2.  If you would like anything reserved or to order apple dumplings, give us a call at 269-244-5690 and we will be happy to save it for you!

This weekend’s offerings will be:

• Cookies:  Cut-out cookies, Frosted Lemon, M&M “Monster”, Chaos, Mudslide, and Salted Caramel
• Pies:   Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Cherry Berry (Cherries, blueberries, and dried cranberries) and Strawberry Rhubarb.
• Apple Crisp
• Breads: Wheat and Rye Herb, Potato Scallion, and Herb Baguette.  Whole Wheat, Honey Oatmeal, Cinnamon, Italian, Tuscan,  Hamburger and Hotdog Buns
• Cinnamon Rolls, Sticky Buns, Yeast Donuts, muffins, scones
• Dessert bars: peanut butter mousse, chocolate caramel, lemon burst, chocolate truffle, chocolate and white mousse
• Fall flavors cake donuts: Buttermilk, Apple Cider, and Pumpkin (Available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
• Slushies- 3 flavors; Unpasteurized Apple Cider, White Grape Peach, and Grape blend. 

Look for our “take and bake” pies for you to stock up on in your freezer (for you to indulge in). “Take and bake” pie choices are all large-9″ pies and available flavors in the freezer now.

Also in the bakery you can find:

• Local Gluten free items
• Local Plainwell Ice cream to scoop out with pie and apple crisp
• Jake’s Country Meats,  pork products
• Welch’s juice products, from Lawton
• Local chocolates

Alcohol offerings:

• Brandies:  Pear, Grape, Apple, Cherry, Peach, and Grappa
• Rye Whiskey
• Wines: Double Cherry and New:  Peach and Honey (already a favorite by those who have tried it)
• Hard Cider flavors: A fall favorite is back:  Preach!  A great blend of pears and peaches! Standard Dry, Standard Sweet,  Bark Bite, Cortabella, Currant/Cacoa,  United Squash Federation, Ginger, Strawberry and Brunch.
• Brandy tours and tasting is available every Saturday from 1 until 3 pm, in the Brandy Barn/Distillery    We offer brandy, wine and some hard cider samples. It’s always an interesting and fun experience.

Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards appreciates you buying local!  We hope to see you soon!

Reminder:  Corey Lake Orchards is closed every Tuesday.  We will continue to share this notice since it is a major change.  As a small family business, we have begun to realize that to best serve our customers with an exceptional product and experience, we need a down day once per week to regroup, reorganize, and re-energize.

**Additional grape information:

• Picking hours: Our picking hours are 8 am to 6 pm every day except Tuesday (when we are closed) , we ask that you be finished and checked out by 6, except for Wednesdays,  where we will stay open until 8 pm (must be checked into the market by 6 pm).
• Please check in at the main market on Corey Lake Road before you start.  You will be directed to the vineyard in which we are picking that day and be assigned rows to pick on by our vineyard  supervisor.
• 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! If you don’t have 5 gallon buckets to pick in, we will loan you ours, but please bring something to take your grapes back home in. (Boxes, plastic tubs, etc.)
• Pricing : 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):
  • 45 cents a pound for under 100 pounds, 1 five-gallon bucket or a ½ bushel = $9
  • Over 100 pounds; 27.5 cents a pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel = $5.50

***Apple Estimate Chart for 2019:  Updated 9-12-9  2019

Variety	Crop Size Estimate	U-Pick Available?   Red means they are ready now for Saturday/Sunday picking	Approximate Week Ready–Please check back as weather will can change date earlier or later	Should order in advance
Braeburn	good	no	8-Oct	no
Cameo	good	yes	15-Oct	no
Cortland	fair	yes	15-Sep	no
Fuji	good	yes	15-Oct	no
Gala	good	yes	In market now	no
Golden Delicious	good	yes	30-Sep	no
Golden Supreme	None	————–	——————–	——————
Honey Crisp	fair	no	In market now	no
Ida Red	few*	yes	30-Sep	yes
Jona Mac	good	yes	In market now	no
JonaGold	good	no	In market now	no
Jonathon	fair	yes	30-Sep	no
McIntosh	good	no	In market now	no
Molly’s Del	good	All picked	7-Sep	no
Mutsu	few*	yes	30-Sep	yes
Northern Spy	few	no	30-Sep	yes
Pink Lady	good	no	23-Oct	no
Red Delicious	good	yes	30-Sep	no
Rome	fair	yes	23-Oct	no

Fall is in the air!  Color is coming to the apple orchard, you can smell the grapes ripening,  on the market the summer vegetables give way to colorful winter squash, summer flowers yield their spot to mums….and a sweatshirt in the mornings feels really good!

Apples are coming!  They are a bit behind schedule so as we begin the harvest, we won’t have bushels of everything available until more ripen.  Those highlighted in red below are available by the bushel now.  Here’s what we will have on the market this weekend and we will try to pick some Honeycrisp on Saturday!

• Mollie’s Delicious is a large, sweet eating apple. (not a cooking apple)
• Gala is a great eating and cooking apple. It has a crisp snappy bite over a mellow sweetness
• Earli-Blaze: This is a great cooking or eating apple, we use it in our own bakery!
• Paula Red: a tart apple for eating or cooking.

This weekend we are opening up the U-Pick Apple orchard.  The varieties available are limited to Gala, Jon-A-Mac, and Mollie’s Delicious.  We know that many of you look forward to the annual  “apple picking experience” with your family.

Apple pricing for the year:  The price is the same for picked apples or u-pick apples.  With the exception of a few special varieties (like Honeycrisp) all the apples will be: $26 a bushel**, $14 a half-bushel, $8.00 a peck (1/4 of a bushel), $6 a half-peck, $3.50 a 1/4 peck and $1.00 a pound. **When we have bushels available.

Apple picking will be available on Saturday and Sunday only this year, during our business hours of 8 until 6.  Please check in at the market first to get directions and you will be driving to the orchard.   We need everyone checked out by 6, so you must be in the apple orchard by 5:30, and checked in at the market by 5:15.  Check our website or call us to see which apple varieties will be available which weekends.

Wondering when your favorite apple will be ready?  Each week we will publish an apple estimate at the end of this post.***

What is on the market now:

• Vegetables:  sweet corn, cabbage,  fresh dug onions,  green beans, brussel sprouts, eggplant, peppers, cherry/grape tomatoes, regular field tomatoes–red and green, spaghetti squash, winter/hard squash, garlic, shallots 
• Fruit: apples, seeded watermelon
• U-pick herbs 
• U-Pick flowers
• Dried sunflower heads–to feed your feathered friends

Onions,  Our large sweet onions are now cleaned and bagged (10 pounds) for you to take. They have been “cured” to keep.

Last call for canning or freezing.   We still are picking bushels of sweet corn and tomatoes.  Please call us to order ahead.  269-244-5690.  But don’t delay much longer as these are summer heat-loving crops.

Grape Update: You can just begin to smell the grapes and they are turning color and softening.  We have a decent  crop of the purple Concord, but we lost about 60% of our white Niagara grapes to the winter freeze, so we will have fewer of those.  Our best guess now is the white grapes could be ready the week of 9-16 and the purple grapes the week of 9-30. 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 later for an update.  Additional information about grape picking can be found below.**

Picked grapes: We are taking orders for bushels of picked grapes both white Niagara and purple Concord.  They are $28 a bushel.

Also in the bakery you can find:

• Local Gluten free items
• Local Plainwell Ice cream to scoop out with pie and apple crisp
• Jake’s Country Meats,  pork products
• Welch’s juice products, from Lawton
• Local chocolates

Alcohol offerings:

• Brandies:  Pear, Grape, Apple, Cherry, Peach, and Grappa
• Rye Whiskey
• Wines: Double Cherry and New:  Peach and Honey (already a favorite by those who have tried it)
• Hard Cider flavors: Standard Dry, Standard Sweet,  Bark Bite, Cortabella, Currant/Cacoa,  United Squash Federation, Ginger, Strawberry and Brunch.
• Brandy tours and tasting is available every Saturday from 1 until 3 pm, in the Brandy Barn/Distillery.   Bruce, our brandy maker will be there to welcome you, talk with you about our process, offer sample brandy, wine and some hard ciders as well!  It’s always an interesting and fun experience.

**Additional grape information:

• Picking hours: Our picking hours are 8 am to 6 pm every day except Tuesday (when we are closed) , we ask that you be finished and checked out by 6, except for Wednesdays,  where we will stay open until 8 pm (must be checked into the market by 6 pm).
• Please check in at the main market on Corey Lake Road before you start.  You will be directed to the vineyard in which we are picking that day and be assigned rows to pick on by our vineyard  supervisor.
• 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! If you don’t have 5 gallon buckets to pick in, we will loan you ours, but please bring something to take your grapes back home in. (Boxes, plastic tubs, etc.)
• Pricing : 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):
  • 45 cents a pound for under 100 pounds, 1 five-gallon bucket or a ½ bushel = $9
  • Over 100 pounds; 27.5 cents a pound, 1 five-gallon bucket or ½ bushel = $5.50

***Apple Estimate Chart for 2019:  Updated 9-5-9  2019

Variety	Crop Size Estimate	U-Pick Available?   Red means they are ready now for Saturday/Sunday picking	Approximate Week Ready–Please check back as weather will can change date earlier or later	Should order in advance
Braeburn	good	no	8-Oct	no
Cameo	good	yes	15-Oct	no
Cortland	fair	yes	15-Sep	no
Fuji	good	yes	15-Oct	no
Gala	good	yes	7-Sep	no
Golden Delicious	good	yes	30-Sep	no
Golden Supreme	None
Honey Crisp	fair	no	16-Sep	no
Ida Red	few*	no	30-Sep	yes
Jona Mac	good	yes	9-Sep	no
JonaGold	good	no	30-Sep	no
Jonathon	fair	yes	30-Sep	no
Macintosh	good	no	15-Sep	no
Molly’s Del	good	yes	7-Sep	no
Mutsu	few*	yes	30-Sep	yes
Northern Spy	few	no	30-Sep	yes
Pink Lady	good	no	23-Oct	no
Red Delicious	good	yes	30-Sep	no
Rome	fair	yes	23-Oct	no

 

Update posted 8-31-19  Sorry, we are not going to have enough sweet corn for the entire weekend after all.  We do have some today, Saturday, if you call us, we can put dozens aside for you and hold.  (269-244-5690) We will have more corn for those who are still needing bushels to can or freeze next week.    Please call to order and we can call you back when we have bushels.  Sorry:(

The weather is looking great for the weekend, maybe a few showers hit or miss, but we will take the cool!  These cool nights are great for the apple growth, allowing them to color and gain size.   For many of you, this will be your last weekend here at lake cottages, so we hope to see you to say goodbye and of course, encourage you to take some of Corey Lake Orchard’s goodness back home with you.  We have stocked our CLO fall logo wear with long sleeved tees and zippered hoodies,  perfect for cooler fall weather.  You will notice the fall changes on the market with mums and colored hard/winter squash, and apples filling up counters where you used to find vegetables!  One great surprise is that we should have blueberries through the entire weekend, due to them starting late this year and going late, the first time we can remember!  We’ve even thought of your canine friends with a new flavor of dog treats – pumpkin molasses.  When picking up some pumpkin donuts for your peeps, remember to pick up some pumpkin molasses treats for your pups!

Yes, we will be open from 8 until 6 all holiday weekend, including Labor Day Monday!  (Closed Tuesday)

What is on the market now:

• Vegetables:  sweet corn, cabbage,  yellow summer squash, fresh dug onions,  green beans, brussel sprouts, cherry/grape tomatoes, regular field tomatoes–red and green, spaghetti squash, winter/hard squash, garlic.  
• Fruit:  blueberries, summer apples, seeded watermelon
• U-pick herbs 
• U-Pick flowers
• Dried sunflower heads–to feed your feathered friends

Are you canning or freezing?  We can still get bushels of sweet corn, tomatoes,and green beans.  Please call us to order ahead.

For those wondering about fall apple and grapes, please know they are both running at least one week later than normal, due to the cool spring.  We normally have U-Pick apples available on Labor Day weekend, but will not this year as they are not ready.  We have some good summer apples in now for eating or cooking (and for those school lunch boxes!).  After Labor Day weekend, we will publish an apple estimate chart on when the different varieties will be ready.  For grapes, check back with us in the middle of September to see how they are coming along, but they are typically not ready until the last week of September.

Also in the bakery you can find:

• Local Gluten free items
• Local Plainwell Ice cream to scoop out with pie.
• Jake’s Country Meats,  pork products
• Welch’s juice products, from Lawton
• Local chocolates

Alcohol offerings:

• Brandies:  Pear, Grape, Apple, Cherry, Peach, and Grappa
• Rye Whiskey
• Wines: Double Cherry and New:  Peach and Honey (already a favorite by those who have tried it)
• Hard Cider flavors: Standard Dry, Standard Sweet,  Bark Bite, Cortabella, Currant/Cacoa,  United Squash Federation, Ginger, Strawberry and Brunch.
• Brandy tours and tasting is available every Saturday from 1 until 3 pm, in the Brandy Barn/Distillery.   Bruce, our brandy maker will be there to welcome you, talk with you about our process, offer sample brandy and some hard ciders as well!  It’s always an interesting and fun experience.
• Our last summer Happy Hour! Happy Hour, with free cider samples for the tasting, happens on Saturday from 3 to 6, this will be our last Saturday Happy Hour for the year.   This weekend find us in the “onion barn” at the top of the hill.  If you want to taste more than the three free samples, ciders can be purchased for continued enjoyment here or to take home.

This weekend marks one year since the serious RTV accident we had on our farm last Labor Day with our own Terri Kaufman.   Terri sustained extreme injuries, has had multiple surgeries, and has spent this year continuing to recover.  Tomorrow she undergoes another difficult surgery; please hold her in your thoughts and prayers for a successful surgery and recovery.  We all miss her!

We say this every year as the schools start up, how did another summer come and go so quickly?  All the signals were there:  summer crops waning, back to school sales, apples starting, the darkness in the mornings….we hope you had a great summer and wish all of the kids returning to school a great year!

Goodbye to another year of sunflowers!

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with the sunflower field experience.  We thank so many of you for coming out to enjoy them while they were in bloom.  Friday, August 23rd will be the last day we will be open for sunflowers.

Bird Lovers, stay tuned, in a few weeks we will be offering the chance to pick the heads for birdseed for your feathered friends.

What is on the market now:

• Vegetables:  cabbage, cucumbers, yellow summer squash, fresh dug onions, new potatoes (Red Norland and Yukon Gold), green beans, brussel sprouts, cherry/grape tomatoes, regular field tomatoes–red and green, spaghetti squash, garlic.  
• Fruit:  Blueberries, Summer apples, Cantaloupe, seeded watermelon
• U-pick herbs 
• U-Pick flowers

Are you canning or freezing?  We can still get bushels of sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers and green beans.  Please call us to order ahead.

Two of the most frequently asked questions are:  How long will you have tomatoes?  Answer, until the first frost, and if you can tell us when that would be we’d love to know ahead of time!  How much longer will you have sweet corn?  Answer:  Into September, for sure through Labor Day Weekend!

For those wondering about fall apple and grapes, please know they are both running at least one week later than normal, due to the cool spring.  We have some good summer apples in now for eating or cooking (and for those school lunch boxes!).  After Labor Day weekend, we will publish an apple estimate chart on when the different varieties will be ready.  For grapes, check back with us in the middle of September to see how they are coming along, but they are typically not ready until the last week of September.

Some of you are still inquiring about peaches and pears (which normally we would have now).  We lost both of these crops due to the winter polar vortex.  So there are none available at our farm this year.   Sorry…..

Also in the bakery you can find:

• Local Gluten free items
• Local Plainwell Ice cream to scoop out with pie.
• Jake’s Country Meats,  pork products
• Welch’s juice products, from Lawton
• Local chocolates

Alcohol offerings:

• Brandies:  Pear, Grape, Apple, Cherry, Peach, and Grappa
• Rye Whiskey
• Wines: Double Cherry and New:  Peach and Honey (already a favorite by those who have tried it)
• Hard Cider flavors: Standard Dry, Standard Sweet,  Bark Bite, Cortabella, Currant/Cacoa,  United Squash Federation, Ginger, Strawberry and Brunch.
• Brandy tours and tasting is available every Saturday from 1 until 3 pm, in the Brandy Barn/Distillery.   Bruce, our brandy maker will be there to welcome you, talk with you about our process, offer sample brandy and some hard ciders as well!  It’s always an interesting and fun experience.
• Two more chances for Happy Hour! Happy Hour, with free cider samples for the tasting, happens on Saturday from 3 to 6 through Labor Day weekend.   This weekend find us in the “onion barn” at the top of the hill.  If you want to taste more than the three free samples, ciders can be purchased for continued enjoyment here or to take home.