If you have left your name and phone number to be scheduled, you should have received a message by now giving you a time.  If you did not, please call us on 269-244-5690.  If you have any questions on U-Pick or need to change the time you were given, please call us and we will try to accommodate you.

We appreciate your patience and support as we try this scheduling system this year.  Please give us your feedback on it, whether it worked well or not, as we constantly want to improve and better serve our customers.

Picked Berries:  We are bringing in a good supply of picked berries daily.  If you ordered flats or cases, you also should have received a message back confirming your order and the date.  If not, please call us on 269-244-5690.   Pricing is $3.00 a quart, a flat of 8 quarts for $22 and a case of 16 quarts for $40.    We sometimes have these on hand when you come in, but it would help us if you could call us and order flats and  cases in advance.

Beth's dog Denim, guarding the strawberries on the market, 6-10-11

Shortcake Available: Our bakers will be baking strawberry shortcake daily through strawberry season for you to pick up when you get strawberries.  Sorry, we can’t help you with the ice cream or whipped topping…..!!

Cherries:  It appears right now we will have a good crop of sweet and sour cherries.  Please check back the last week of June for a better estimate of when they will be ready.

Strawberries: We are now starting to pick a few strawberries each day of an early variety.  These are available for $3.00 per quart at the market.

The majority of our strawberries should be ready starting the week of June 12th, This is our best guess for now, depending on the weather.

Picked Berries will be:  $3.00 a quart; a flat of 8 quarts is $22.00; a case of 16 quarts is  $40.00, 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:  $1.30 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.

New for 2011 – Scheduling/Reservation System

This year we are going to try something new:  a scheduling/reservation system for managing the U-Pick strawberries.  We are doing this for several reasons.

1. In the past several years, as many of you know, we have had more customers than strawberries, causing us to be picked out 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, only to be turned away.  With the price of gas, it would be even more frustrating this year.
2. We do not have as many strawberries available for U-pick as we had hoped.  We have one acre which has developed a foliage problem leaving the berries exposed to the heat and sun.  We will not be able to open this field for U-Pick, so this leaves us with about one acre to pick.

We are sorry for the change, but feel this is the best way to handle U-Pick for at least this year given  the limited picking availability.    The scheduling system will allow us to make sure that we will have an ample supply of strawberries  available for you when you come.

How it Works:

1.   For picking 4 quarts or less as a group (not per person):  We know many of you like to come every few days just to pick a couple of quarts for shortcake or to give the kids “the farm experience”.  We will reserve a small section of the field and you can stop in during our berry picking hours (see below) to pick these – no reservations required.  The special area will close each day when picked out.

2.   If you want to pick over 4 quarts, please call (269-244-5690) and give us:

• Your name
• Your phone number
• How many people will be picking (adults/children)
• About how many you want to pick
• The days that would be best for you
• Whether you want morning or evening picking

3.    Scheduling:  We will use this information to schedule you for hopefully a time that is convenient for you.  We will call you back and start scheduling as soon as strawberries are ready.   We will try to give you as much notice as possible so that you can plan accordingly.

4.  U-Pick times:  We plan to be open for U-Pick each day weather permitting (closing only for a storm or for berries to ripen due to cool temperatures ) We will have both morning hours, 8 to 11 am,  and this year, because many of you have asked for this, we will try evening hours as well, from 6 to 8 pm.

We hope to be able to accommodate everyone.  If we get into the season and find that we can’t, we will let you know so you can find another source for your berries.  There are other local farms with U-Pick; we have a list of these with websites and phone numbers available at the market.

We appreciate your support and understanding as we try this modified system this year.

Frequently asked questions about strawberries:

How long will the season last? Depends on the weather, but typically about 2 weeks.

What variety of strawberries do you have?  We have several varieties mixed out in our field: Eros, Jewel and All Star.

How much does a quart of strawberries weigh?  About 1 and ½ pounds.

How many quarts in a flat and case?  There are 8 quarts in a flat and 16 quarts in a case.

If you have other questions, please feel free give us a call or send an email.  We’ll try to get it answered.

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Here’s hoping for good weather so that the upcoming berry season can be a good one!  Thanks from everyone at Corey Lake Orchards