Picked Berries will be $3.00 a quart; a flat of 8 quarts is $22.00 ($2.75 quart) ; a case of 16 quarts is  $40.00 ($2.50 quart) , when available or ordered in advance.  We are now taking orders for flats and cases, and will call you when they are available.  Please call us on 269-244-5690 to order.

U-Pick Strawberries will be  $1.50 quart.  Please bring quart containers if you have them.  If not, you may borrow ours to pick in, but bring containers such as boxes, buckets, tubs, to take your berries home in.

Last year when we had fewer strawberries we tried a scheduling/reservation system.     Feedback from our customers on this was mixed and so after listening to you, we are going back to the previous method of first come–first serve.

Unfortunately this year we again are going to have fewer strawberries due to frost damage.  Essentially we lost the “first picking.”  The picking that remains will still be good, the season will just not be as long.  In the past several years, we have had more customers than strawberries, causing us to be picked out some days within 30 minutes and having to turn customers away.  This is frustrating for us and certainly for those of you who took time off work or got the kids up early to pick berries.

In order to accommodate all of our many local, loyal customers who want to pick here each year, we may to have to limit the quantity you can pick on some days to 16 quarts per group in order to allow more customers to have a chance to pick.

We know we have some customers who do a lot of preserving and want to pick 5 – 10 cases, for these customers I would recommend the following.  Call us and tell us how many you want to pick and we will try to accommodate you on a day when we have a lot of berries.

If we don’t have enough berries this year for everyone, there are  several other local farms with U-Pick  which we can give you the information on.

U-Pick times:  We will open the field each day at 8:00 am  and it will remain open until we are picked out or until noon.  We plan to open  each day weather permitting (closing only for berries to ripen if the weather turns cold. ) If we close the field for ripening, we will make that decision the day before, so please call us the day/night before you plan to come to make sure we are picking that day.   For safety, we will close the field during a lightening and thunder storm.

Asparagus:  We are winding down the asparagus season and will have it for about one more week.    Please call in advance to make sure we have it before you drive out.  269-244-5690.  Thanks for another great asparagus season, we all hate to see it end.

Greenhouse tomatoes:  We have a good supply of greenhouse tomatoes now.

Garden plants:  We have added squash, melons and cucumbers to the plants we carry this week.  We still have a good selection but they are going fast, so please come out soon to get your plants.  Besides, this wonderful weather is the perfect time to be planting.

Thanks as always for buying local.  We hope to see you this weekend.

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

Greenhouse Tomatoes Picked on 5-8-12

Mother’s Day Weekend:  Mother’s Day is this Sunday, it is a time for everyone to remember where they came from and to thank their mom for everything she has done for them!  We have a number of items you can choose from to put together a lovely gift for Mom with local products.   Besides our  fresh picked asparagus and rhubarb we have reusable “Corey Lake Orchards” tote bags,  honey, Ruth’s pecan and cashew brittle.  Our bakers are bringing pies, cinnamon rolls, bread,  and cookies.  They will have specially-decorated flower sugar cookies for Mother’s Day.  This weekend I highly recommend the rhubarb or strawberry- rhubarb pie.  Since rhubarb is in season, this is the time to enjoy it.  If one of my son’s was going to get me a Mother’s Day gift, I would want a mini-rhubarb pie that I could eat all by myself (Hint, hint….).    If you have never tried their rhubarb pie, you really should, of all the pies they make it is my favorite.

The Brandy House is open this Saturday from 1 -4.  Bruce will be here at the brandy house for tasting and tours.  Be sure to ask him about some great drink recipes he has perfected using our brandies.  I highly recommend the peach, cherry or pear brandy as a Mother’s Day gift!

Plants and Hanging Flower baskets:  We will have many plants for sale this weekend, including hanging flower baskets.  If your mother is a gardener, consider mixing up a flat of various vegetable and tomato plants and helping her get them planted this weekend.

Plants available this weekend will be:

• Pepper plants (Sweet bell, Sweet Banana, Hungarian, Jalapano and Cayenne)
• Herbs:  Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Chives, and Parsley
• Note:  we are just getting our pepper plants and herbs in for the first time this year and will have them available on Friday afternoon (May 11th)
  
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Lettuce
• Brussel Sprouts
• Tomato plants (cherry and grape tomatoes, Biltmore, Mountain Fresh, Mountain Glory, Rocky Top, Red Defender, Primo Red, Scarlett Red)

Plants which are still yet to come will be watermelon,  cantaloupe, eggplant, cucumber, and both summer and winter squash plants.  Check back around May 15th to see if we have a date yet for when they will be ready.

Flower Plants:  We usually don’t sell flower plants but as I did my cutting garden this year, I over estimated how many I needed so we have zinnias, cosmos and snapdragons for sale.  So if you have ever wanted to try a cutting garden, this is a good way to start by using actual plants versus seeds.

Everyone here at Corey Lake Orchards is hoping you have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you.

Asparagus is really easy to freeze, you can simply toss it in the freezer in a plastic bag and wash it well when you take it out.  Buy 10# or more at $1.75/lb.

So please come on over this weekend to enjoy this delightful crop which will only last a few more weeks if it stays this warm.

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

Rhubarb:  With the great weather, we finally have rhubarb for sale in the market!!  If you would like to order some, please call us at 269-244-5690 and we will save it for you!

Plants for sale:  What a beautiful start to the month of May!  With weather this nice, it’s a great time to plant your garden.  We have a vast array of plants for sale including; Tomato, Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kale, Lettuce, Shallots, Spinach, Cabbage, potato sets, and Chives.  So it’s time to till up the garden and get to work!

Hubbard’s Brandy House:  This weekend will be the first of many to come this year in which you can come sample the fruits of our brandy maker’s labor.  Bruce and everyone here at Corey Lake Orchards would like to invite you to come spend your Saturday’s from 1-4 with us, tasting the brandy and polecat wine.  Bruce will also give you a special tour so you can learn the process of making brandy!  So bring your friends and enjoy a relaxing afternoon here on the farm.

Simply Sweet Baked Goods:  Many of your have been asking when we will have baked goods for sale in the market again. The bakers will begin on Mother’s Day Weekend 5/11/2012 (Friday thru Sunday).  They will be offering Strawberry Rhubarb, Rhubarb, 2 crust Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Dutch Apple, and Peach Pies.  They will also have chocolate chip, monster, chocolate crinkle, and special Mother’s Day cut out cookies!  If you would like to place an order for baked goods, please call us at 269-244-5690 and we will save them for you!

Michaela and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

Update on Frost Damage:  Unfortunately we have had some damage to our fruit crops.  Among the worst hit are pears, tart cherries, and plums.  There is minor damage beginning to show up on grapes, apples, sweet cherries, peaches, and strawberries. For those of you who can, freeze and make jellies/jams, you may want to ration your items in case you can’t replenish this year.  As most of you probably know, the entire state of Michigan has been hit very hard with frost damage in the fruit belt.  We really won’t know the extent of the damage for a few more weeks as the fruit tries to “set” and we can see what really made it.   Many of you who have driven past our strawberry field in the mornings have wondered what we are doing with our sprinklers going….it is how we protect them from frost damage.  Many thanks to Jay who is the one who stays up during these frosty nights to watch over our greenhouse and keep the irrigation going.

Irrigating strawberry plants through the night to protect them from frost damage

Asparagus Update: Due to the cold nights,  there is very little asparagus growing right now.    Please call us at 269-244-5690 to see if we have any left before you drive out or order in advance so we can save it for you.  Based on the weather forecast, we hope to pick again at the beginning of the week.

Tomato Plants:  We have tomato plants available now in our market.  If you would like some this year,  but you are not quite ready for them yet, please call us at 269-244-5690 or email us so we can save them for you.  Due to the storm out east, we are supplementing a greenhouse in Pennsylvania that lost their plants.  We would like to make sure our customers get the plants they want as many of you like the variety of tomato plants that we have.  The types of tomato plants available are:  Biltmore, Rocky Top, Scarlett Red, Mountain Fresh, Mountain Glory, Red Defender, and cherry and grape tomatoes.

Cold Crop Plants:  We still have cold crop plants for sale.  These are plants that you can plant right away and not have to worry about the cold weather.  These include; Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kale, Lettuce, Shallots, and Spinach.  We still have seed potatoes for sale in the market.

Other vegetable plants:  We will have other vegetable plants later and hanging flower baskets, check with us mid-May.

Brown Eggs:  We are pleased to announce that Norma and David Yoder, from Leonidas, will be selling their farm-fresh, grass-fed chicken eggs at our market this summer.  They will have  Pullet eggs (pullet eggs are from chickens that are just beginning to lay, so the eggs are a little smaller) or  regular-large eggs.  They would very much like any egg cartons you have, so please help by bringing them back.

Rhubarb:  If the weather cooperates, we hope to have rhubarb this coming week.

Ruth’s famous pecan and cashew brittle is back, along with local honey!!  Come stock up!

Here’s hoping that we can soon get some “normal” weather back.  Have a great weekend.

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

As stewards of the land, we are pleased to look around the community and see awareness and involvement in caring for Planet Earth:  recycling, reusing, reducing energy usage, mulching organic waste, planting gardens and buying local.

So to help promote Earth Day, we are offering a free tomato plant to every customer who comes out this weekend, on either Saturday or Sunday.   Yes, this means one plant for everyone along for the ride:   from the 6-week-old to your cousin here for the weekend.   This could be a great project for kids.  We hope you can find a spot in your garden, your lawn or a pot on your patio to plant it.   As you care for it, we hope it will bring you a little joy and some wonderful tomatoes as a reward for your efforts!

Tomato plants looking for a home!

What else will we have this weekend?  We will have lots of other plants for sale.  The weather predictions looks like we may have a few more cool nights this weekend, but after that, things are looking good.  So it is time to get those gardens started.  We have lots of tomato plants of all different varieties.   These are the same tomatoes that we grow and sell here each year, so if you know our tomatoes, you know they have great flavor.    We also have “cold crop” plants for sale:  these are items that don’t mind if it does frost like cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower.

We also hope to have asparagus all weekend, however, these cool nights are really limiting our yield so we tend to sell out quickly each day.  If you would like some, please call ahead and place and order to make sure we can get it for you.  269-244-5690.

So Happy Earth Day, and thank you for all you do to care for the earth.

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

Plants for Sale:  We now have vegetable plants for sale in the market.    We currently have the “cold crop” plants for sale which are: cabbage, spinach, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and lettuce plants. We still have onion sets and potato seeds  for sale.    Since these are “cold crops” these can be planted anytime right now without fear of frost.

Tomato plants:  We are just starting to get tomato plants in for sale and have several varieties available.    If you decide to put these out in your garden now, you will have to protect them from frost.

We will continue to have more vegetable plants and lots more tomato plants for sale as the planting season continues, probably through the end of May.  Just to make sure we have what you are looking for, it is best to call ahead.  269-244-5690.

Frost Update:  Fortunately we have not been hit as hard as some of our fellow farmers to the north west, but we do have some frost damage to the strawberries, pears, cherries and grapes so far.  Unfortunately there is still more frost predicted yet for this week, so we’ll know more by next week.  The frost has delayed the rhubarb and it will probably not be ready until the week of April 23rd now.

From everyone at Corey Lake Orchards.

This past week of frosty nights have brought some injury to our fruit crops, but we are overall thankful that we have not suffered any severe damage so far.  We’ll keep you updated.

Beth and everyone at Corey Lake Orchards

Given that we will not be picking a lot of asparagus until it stays much warmer, please call ahead and order it to make sure we have it.  (269-244-5690).  Leave us your name, number and how much you would like.

We also expect to have rhubarb the week of April 16th.

Brandy Update:  Bruce opened the 2011 fall apple brandy that he made and it passed the taste test for being ready.  (That test is the approval by the owner:  Mr. Hubbard!)  So. we finally have apple brandy for sale again.   Since we are not officially open for the year, we are doing brandy sales by appointment only.  Just give us a call.  (269-244-5690).

We will leave you with a glimpse of our Honeycrisp apples in bloom, their beauty is a wonderful Easter gift to all of us!

Honeycrisp apples in bloom on April 7th, 2012

Reminder, the Brandy House will be open Saturday April 7th from 1 – 4.

Plants for sale:  We still have some tomato plants, onion sets, potato seed and strawberry plants for sale.  We will be open on Saturday from 9 – 4.  We will have many more vegetable plants for sale in May for your garden.

We will be closed on Easter Sunday, April 8th.  Have a great holiday weekend.

Beth