Happy New Year! All the best for 2016!
While we are officially closed for the year, we still have items if you need them and we can make an appointment: brandy, wine, hard ciders, frozen apple pies and a few Fuji apples. Just call us at 269-244-5690.
We do have an abundance of naturally grown produce coming out of Becca’s hoophouse. After indulging in many sweet and rich foods over the holidays, I find myself craving something fresh, green, healthy and homegrown! This is the first winter for the hoophouse, and it literally takes my breath away when I walk in to be amongst such beautiful, growing produce. I am really enjoying trying to find new ways to use spinach and kale and it finds itself on my plate daily in some form!
Naturally Grown Produce: If you’d like to buy some, please call ahead and let us know what you want (269 244 5690) or check out the small table/fridge at World Fare in downtown Three Rivers where we are stocking it with kale, lettuce, spinach, radishes, onions, carrots, and more as Becca harvests this winter. With the winter roads and snow around the market, this is another way for you to access fresh produce from the hoophouse plus do your other shopping in downtown Three Rivers. We’re also happy to reserve items for you and put your name on them in the fridge, just give us a call at 269 244 5690.
Happenings on the farm: We finished trimming all of the purple Concord grapes and have now started the Niagaras. The weather cooperated by finally getting cold so we could start these sensitive grapes. The lack of snow is actually helping us to find and save potential new trunks for our plants where the last several winters have killed off the main trunk. Tedious, slow, but such necessary work.
Becca wanders up to the brandy house daily to check on ciders and experiment with meads, when not tending to the hoophouse. From Becca:
A big thank you to stepdad Marshall who helped anchor the west wall of the hoophouse. Heavy winds all year had shifted the wall east about an inch! Looks like this issue is now taken care of. There are still a few things I’d like to do to make sure a heavy snowload doesn’t collapse the arches…it’s really overwhelming to think that a wet, heavy snow could easily load 10 tons of weight onto the frame. (The greenhouse where we grow our tomatoes has a arch design with about 30% more steel in the frame, so it’s a lot stronger and far less worrisome in winter conditions.)
During the winter, certain plants keep growing (like onions, lettuce, spinach, and kale) while other plants stay in hibernation…making the hoophouse a sort of walk-in refrigerator. Of course, there’s still lots of weeding to do, which is something we try and do on warm days when it can be 65-70 inside the house!
Like Batman, Becca has her own Fortress of Solitude.
A living refrigerator, complete with specialty long radishes.
As the calendar turns to the new year, we are well in the midst of planning for this upcoming season. Lots of reflection time of what we did well last year, what we need to work on, what we didn’t get done, what’s on our wish list, and most important, what we could do to enhance the experience for our customer. And of course, a winter favorite, perusing the seed catalogs! The greenhouse tomato seeds have been ordered and will be planted next week in order for you to enjoy a BLT in late April and May!
Happy New Year from everyone at Corey Lake Orchards
