Corey Lake Orchards

Hello again from snowy-icy Corey Lake Orchards.  I should have know something was going on when I opened the farmer’s almanac calendar this year and this is what was on January 1:  “Year of snow, crops will grow.”    For all of you who are getting tired of the snow, please realize that it is very good for our soil….so we’re hoping for a warm, gentle–controlled thawing in the spring….that allows our trees, vineyards and plants to absorb the moisture into their roots, and thus, get off to a great start for 2014!

This amount of snow has certainly caused us to be creative about how we get through it to trim the grapes.  We have tried moving it, packing it down, going over it with snowmobiles, snow blowing it, and still have parts of vineyards where the snow is so deep that none of these work.    Thankfully our crew is persevering and we are getting the job done and haven’t lost too much time yet this winter.

Our greenhouse tomatoes are planted!!  To be honest, we had to do some serious thinking about starting the greenhouse up this year, given that we heat it with propane.  But we are as anxious as you are for a good-flavored tomato.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that we can get propane and afford it!!  It would be really nice if Mother Nature could give us a little solar powered heat by having the sun around more often!  So….only 86 more days until the first BLT of the year!

 

 

 

We have been busy planning for the year, attending educational seminars, doing annual maintenance and working in the orchards and vineyards when weather permits.  This cold weather has given us extra time for R&R either sitting by the fire or on sunny days–in a lawn chair out in the greenhouse–where it feels like a mini Florida vacation!

We are wondering if you would share some pictures with us?  We belong to the Michigan Agri-tourism association which is having a contest with their members for pictures to put on the 2014 directory cover.   If you have some family photos taken on our farm that you would allow us to enter in the contest, we would really appreciate it.  Just email them back to us with permission to use.

We hope you are enjoying your winter.  I’ll leave you with the Farmer’s Almanac quote for February which says:  “If February is cold, the summer will be a nice one!!”   We’ll take it….everyone at Corey Lake Orchards is looking forward to seeing you soon.

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were thrilled to find out that we received the “Best Place to Buy Fruit” this year in the local People’s Choice Awards.  Receiving this award helps assure us that the changes we have been making over the past few years are working, and that we’re keeping our customers happy. And thank you to all of you who voted, because getting this award really means a lot to us. Click here if you’re interested in learning about which other great local products and services in our area were also winners. 

We’re finding ourselves “snowed in, drifted in and wind-chilled out,” which is giving us an opportunity to work on our 2014 planning.  While it may not seem like it now, surely spring will be here sometime and we will start our new season!  Here are some pictures that I took today.  Good thing I can walk to work!!  For those of you sharing these conditions, stay warm and stay safe.

-Beth and the crew at Corey Lake Orchards

Mother Nature has certainly found some interesting ways to welcome in the new year.    While we had to hunker down for those worst below-freezing days, most days find everyone around the farm pretty busy.

We have a crew trimming the Concord grapes, our most labor intensive job on this farm.  If you have driven by in the last few weeks, you saw construction going on with a building behind our market.   No, not another new building,  just a repair job going on to our existing crate barn that lost its roof in the November storm.  Our maintenance man is getting equipment in and out of his stop, making sure it is already to go if spring ever arrives.  We have a crew working to get the greenhouse ready for our tomato plants, which are currently growing in Schramm’s greenhouse for us in Portage.  This puts us about 125 days away from being able to enjoy a fresh-tomato BLT sandwich!

It seems to us like we are in apple season here since we still have apples left from the 2013 abundant crop.  We have never had this many apples, this long after harvest, still in our cold storage.  In fact, we are getting a little tired of having to move the snow (16 inches at one point last week) and ice so that we can get in and out of the cold storage!  All these apples are driving new winter activities:

• Bruce has been making apple brandy almost non-stop.  Since we have been out of apple brandy for almost 2 years this is a good thing!

 

• We have been able to keep local food banks and pantries in fresh apples.  Loaves and Fishes picked up a load today, this makes 68,600 pounds or 1,430 bushels of apples now that have gone to folks who need them.

We are taking the 100 bushels of Northern Spys we had left over and making apple pies and freezing them.  There should be no shortage of apple pies in our bakery in 2014!

 

 

 

And then there is the pile of office work, much pushed aside during our hectic fall season, seeds to order, field planning for this coming year, conferences and seminars, and a chance to finally read up on the latest and greatest things going on in the world of agriculture.    But for me, the slower pace allows for some reflecting and longer term planning, more relaxed time with family, basketball watching and cozying up to the fire with a good book and a warm piece of apple pie (well somebody has to be in charge of making sure the pies taste good!!)

We miss our customers and look forward to seeing you in the Spring!

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

Happenings on the farm:  Well, Mother Nature has put our orchards and vineyards into their deep winter sleep (dormancy) early this year.    We finished trimming the apple orchards this past week and now will begin the long winter task of trimming the grape vineyards.

Several of us from the farm went to the Great Lakes Expo in Grand Rapids last week—it is one of the largest fruit, vegetable, greenhouse and farm market educational sessions in the nation.   Our heads are still spinning from the many things we learned.  We look forward to implementing some of the new concepts from the greenhouse, farm market, fruit, vegetable and bakery sessions we attended.   It was a great week to re-connect with our colleagues and share experiences from this past season.  So stay tuned as we’ll give you some additional updates on this over the winter and “test” some of the ideas on you!

Apples:  Yes…..we still have apples….. we will be open the month of December by appointment only (call us on 269-244-5690) or….if you happen to catch us here at the farm when you come by.  We have lots of apples left and they will remain at their Buy one, Get one pricing.  If any of you are putting together holiday food baskets this year for families through church or other charitable organizations, please call or email us, we would love to donate apples to this cause.

Brandy House Hours:  Bruce will be in the Brandy House from 1 – 4 on Saturday December 21st and 28th.   Then he will take a long deserved winter’s break.  So….if you need brandy or our Polecat wines for the holidays or New Year’s, please come the next two Saturdays or call for an appointment if you can’t make those times.

Baked Goods:  Thank you to all of our customers that ordered baked goods for Thanksgiving! We hope you enjoyed everything. I know our families did! Just a reminder that you can still order baked goods for Christmas until Wednesday, December 18th. All orders must be picked up at Corey Lake Orchards on Monday, December 23rd from 8-4.

You can order pies by filling in the following form (we’ll call you to confirm your order and the amount due), or you can call us directly at (269) 244-5690. Mini pies are $5 (or $6 for pecan), large full-sized pies are $10 each (or $12 for pecan), and cookies are $4.50/half dozen or $9/dozen.

Thanks as always for buying local……stay warm and safe….Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards