A challenge to you for Earth Day! Plant a tomato.

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Beth

Sunday, April 22nd is Earth Day, the day set aside each year for all of us to pause and ask ourselves what we are personally doing to protect our world, our environment and the earth upon which we walk.   Often times people think that our job as farmers is raising and caring for the crops we grow.  But in fact, our real job is caring for this precious ground we have been entrusted with.  Because if we can take care of the soil and all of nature surrounding it, the farming part becomes a whole lot easier for the day, next week, next year and the years to come.

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

 

 

 

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Mid April Update

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Beth

Asparagus Update:  With the warm weather over the weekend, we were able to pick asparagus again today and have it for sale in the market again.  Due to the cold weather forecasted for this week,  we do not know when we will be picking again.  If you would like to place an order for some, call us at 269-244-5690, and we will save it for you or call us before you come to make sure we have some left.

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.

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Asparagus and Frost Update

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Beth

In the frosts that occurred over the past several nights, we did lose most of our asparagus that was above ground level.    So we will not be trying to pick again until next week.  Check our website or call us about 4-17 to see if we are picking again.  Feel free to leave an order with your name, how many pounds you want and phone number, and we can call you when we can fill it.  (269-244-5690).

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

 

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Easter Weekend and Frost Update

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Beth

Frost Update:  We did get a hard  frost last night -April 6th,  but so far it looks like we have come out fairly well.  We lost just a few strawberries (only the few that were in bloom) and just a few sweet cherries, but it appears as if the apples, sour cherries, grapes and pears are okay.  We were very lucky in that the asparagus did not get frosted, so we will be picking on Monday, April 9th.  There are more cold nights to come so please keep your fingers crossed for us.

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

 

 

 

 

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Easter Weekend–Sorry sold out of asparagus

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Beth

Asparagus:  We were able to pick asparagus again today (yea…it did not freeze last night), but we have already sold out.  We will try to pick again Monday, April 9th, depending on the weather over the next few days.  So if you would like to get some, please call us at 269-244-5690 and leave us your name, phone number and how many pounds you would like.  We will call you when it is available again.

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

 

 

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