|
February 12, 2010 This February newsletter is just to let you know about some major changes ahead for 2010. Pumpkins and Fall Entertainment will not be available in 2010.
I am especially appreciative to our loyal Pumpkin and fall decoration customers who helped make 2009 a record breaking year despite record rainy weather conditions. Unfortunately, the growing popularity of our pumpkins and the associated activities like the Straw Pyramid, Gold Mine, Diamond mine, corn maze, sorghum maze ...etc. has put a tremendous strain on my ability to manage these activities at age 70 without sacrificing considerable family life in the process. Current plans for 2010 are to eliminate all pumpkin/squash/decorative corn plantings and all fall related activities. Our web site has a list of other pumpkin farms in the area you may find useful.Strawberries Strawberry acreage for the May/June 2010 harvest should be up modestly from 2009. All strawberries received a heavy application of mulch before the sub zero cold snap so we are expecting an excellent crop in 2010 baring some repeat of the "2007 Easter Freeze". Raspberry The subzero winter cold snap should provide a good test for our newer varieties cold hardiness. Fortunately, our acreage of cold susceptible Canby is very small so we still have the opportunity for a good raspberry crop in 2010. Dried Gourds We will still have a large selection of dried gourds from the 2009 harvest available for sale starting in late spring and new green gourd plantings will be made in 2010 to permit dried gourd sales into 2011. Diamond Mine and Gold Prospecting Present plans are to continue the Diamond Mine activity during the May/June Strawberry/Raspberry sales season. We may possilby offer "Gold Prospecting" in our creek on June weekends. |
||||
|
October 1, 2009 Easter
Egg Hunt in October for pre K childrenFor the coming weekend (October 3 & 4) between the hours of Noon and 4 PM we will have a new activity for the younger children--an "Easter" egg hunt in October. Our egg gourds are so realistic, they almost look and feel like real eggs. Pre K children will be allowed to keep one gourd. There is no cost for this activity but our supply of egg gourds is limited so we may only be able to offer this activity during the first weekend of October. Other Fun Activities for Kids Pumpkins and Fall Decorations |
||||
August 30, 2009
Late Season Raspberries Prelude Raspberries are available to pick now and Nova should be ready in about two weeks. Prelude is a very mild tasting berry that can be picked even when not totally ripe but Nova is a rather tart but very pretty berry that must be totally ripe (very dark red) or you'll have difficulty getting the berry off the bush. For more detailed information on both varieties and their relative strengths/problems click here. For those of you new to picking fall raspberries keep in mind that there are usually both blossoms and ripe fruit on each cane so you need to adopt a "two handed" picking approach (one to lift the canes and one to pick the berry) to avoid "picking" honey bees or yellow jacket wasps. Raspberry blossoms are extremely attractive to honey bees and yellow jacket wasps "pig out" on ripe fruit. Unlike the summer crop, fall raspberries are more prone to mold in periods of cool, wet weather so their storage life is limited despite our treatments of fungicides specifically targeted against grey mold. Our 2009 fall crop is expected to be more modest than the 2008 crop due to overcropping on the spring crop and Japanese Beetle damage to the new cane leaves. Since late season raspberries are normally less productive than the June crop we will continue to handle picking in low key fashion: 1. Customer self check in/out. 2. Customers may pick wherever they please (no field supervisor) 3. Picking status/conditions are not updated on our phone or web site. For information on picking conditions and hours for the current day, customers are welcome to call me on my cell phone 636-387-2695 right before making a trip to the farm. Pumpkins and Fall Decorations |
||||
June 3, 2009
Raspberries Scattered red raspberry picking has been going on in the Prelude and Reveille for the last few days but peak picking is probably very close. The concentrated bloom of all varieties means we should have some excellent picking in the next three weeks but the season will probably end sooner than normal As always, Emails and raspberry cards to last years customers means there may be days when the flow of customers exceeds the supply of berries. If you are coming later in the morning in the early part of the season, it would be a good idea to call before you come just to make sure that we are still have raspberry picking available that morning. Strawberries Due to the cooler weather during bloom and the late ripening of our three blocks near Mexico Road, there is still a good supply of strawberries available for picking. It appears as if strawberry ripening has finally caught up with customer flow. We should have strawberries available for another two weeks. This must be the year for REALLY BIG strawberries. On Wednesday, May 27, my cousin, Margaret found a Cabot berry over 150 grams breaking the farm record of 109 grams set in 2006. On Thursday, May 28, another customer found a Cabot berry over 171 grams setting a new record that will probably stand for some time. |
||||
May 20, 2009
Strawberries The weather has been a little cool and wet during bloom so the strawberries seem to be ripening slightly slower than normal but still much faster than 2008 where picking did not begin until June 1. Peak picking for 2009 will probably be May 28 thru June 10 with the season ending about mid June. Overall, it looks like a normal strawberry crop. Current plans are to have the traditional "early bird" first day picking Thursday, May 21. We will open at 7:30 AM for a limited number of customers (first come, first serve) and close when we run out of berries or 11:00 AM -- whichever comes first. It is early in the Cabot season, so you can expect very scattered picking -- a few ripe berries here and there so I would not recommend coming with the expectation of bringing home large quantities of berries. However if you need just a few fresh-from-the-farm berries, this "early bird" picking might be just right for you. If picking is better than expected, we will open on Friday. Otherwise, we will be closed on Friday and open next for picking on Saturday, May 23. Early in the season it is always a good idea (particularly if you are coming later in the morning) to call the farm right before you drive out to get an up-to-date status report on strawberry availability and picking conditions. |
||||
|
January 15, 2009 Don't forget that most of our fall decorations -- particularly the attractively colored new squash like La Estrella(Calabash), Pink Banana(Hubbard), Celebration(Acorn), Sunshine(Buttercup) and Sweet Mama(Kabocha) are eminently edible and keep for a long period if stored in a cool (above freezing) location. Even the small miniature decorative "indian" corn can also be eaten -- it's really popcorn ! The growing popularity of our pumpkin season Straw Pyramid is creating problems for the strawberry crop which depends upon the leftover straw for winter mulching and clean picking aisles in the spring. A 2008 "perfect storm" combination of loosely baled straw, heavy rains, and heavy use by our customer's children and school groups led to a "sorry looking" haystack of broken, soggy, and wire strewn straw bales that finally had to be closed during the last Sunday of October for safety reasons. As you can imagine, trying to use this "recycled" straw for strawberry mulching was exceedingly difficult but our 2009 strawberry crop was eventually mulched successfully for the winter. For 2009 we will switch to tighter plastic tied bales that hopefully will hold up better under heavy traffic. If this change doesn't work, we may need to take steps to reduce customer traffic to one of our most popular fall attractions. Newsprint Advertising -- gone with the wind 2008 marked the first year we went "cold turkey" on newsprint advertising -- spending zero. I have been a loyal Post Dispatch newspaper reader but found that fewer and fewer new customers have been responding to our newspaper ads over the last few years. For 2008 we relied totally on our direct mail cards for berries, roadside signs, email newsletter, and internet advertising for promotion. For 2009 we will continue to send "get free berries" cards to those customers who picked in 2008. Prelude Raspberry Looks Like a Real Winner Both my customers and I continue to be quite impressed with our new Prelude Red Raspberry. Besides producing an excellent crop of very early June raspberries that complemented the strawberry season, the Prelude also produced an excellent fall crop of large, tasty, and easily picked berries in September & October that meshed nicely with the pumpkin season. Even though we were closed to customers, I continued to pick Prelude for my own breakfast cereal well into mid November! Like a squirrel who has created a cache of acorns for the winter, I continue to enjoy red raspberries that were frozen whole during the summer and fall by directly plopping them (frozen) into my breakfast cereal throughout the winter. Record Rain in 2008 -- both a curse and a blessing While the excessive rain ( 2X normal) in 2008 did lower the farm water bill by $2,000 and facilitate our best corn and sorghum mazes ever, the overall effect was decidedly negative. Cold, soggy soils in the spring delayed strawberry planting well past the optimum time -- Cabot is particularly fussy about early planting and does not fill out the row if planted too late so our 2009 strawberry crop will be negatively impacted. The September rains proved devastating to our smaller and medium sized pumpkin crop -- slugs and grubs fed on the side laying on the wet ground creating wounds that eventually rotted. On the plus side, weather during the critical June berry harvest and October weekends was unusually good facilitating excellent customer flow. To minimize future problems, extensive excavating work conducted in November was necessary to repair damage from the huge rains that overwhelmed our system of levies and caused major soil erosion. Our nicely sloped fields do drain rather fast but this does come at the expense of some extra soil loss and gully formation unless runoff is carefully controlled. Diamond Mine check out changes work well Moving Diamond Mine check in and check out to the upper level, purchasing another electronic scale, and assigning a full time clerk during weekends seemed to have worked out better than I had hoped. Customer congestion in the lower pumpkin sales area was minimized and waiting lines for diamond check in/out were reduced from 2007 even though customer flow and sales increased. |
||||
September 17, 2008
Pumpkins and Fall Decorations The 20" of extra rainfall that we have had this season seems to have impacted production of some varieties like Orange Smoothie and Prizewinner quite severely -- particularly if they were planted on heavy clay soil. Some items, like Celebration Squash and We-Be-Little pumpkins that performed poorly these last two dry years(2006 & 2007) seem headed for the best crop ever ! What this means is that we will run out of some items much sooner than normal. Late Season RaspberriesWe continue to have a good supply of both Nova and Prelude Raspberries for picking. We did lose a significant number of berries to the wet weather but both varieties normally continue to bloom and produce new berries until we have a heavy frost. Our hours for late season raspberries will be the same as our hours for pumpkins --- you may continue to call me on my cell phone (636-387-2695) during the day to get an update on picking conditions. Be sure to enter our farm at the lower entrance (where our pumpkin display is located). We will continue to operate on a self check in/out basis. Fun Things for Kids Most of the fun things for kids like the corn maze, troll's trail, sorghum maze, diamond digs, and treasure hunts are available during normal business hours. The Hay Pyramid should be complete about September 23 -- a little later than our usual schedule. Gold & silver prospecting in our creek won't begin until the first weekend of October. Keep in mind that we are closed Sundays in September and closed Mondays in October. The Pumpkin Troll will be on duty starting the first weekend of October on Saturday & Sunday afternoon from 12 Noon to 4 PM Dried Gourds |
||||
August 28, 2008
Late Season Raspberries Prelude Raspberries are available to pick now and Nova should be ready in about two weeks. Prelude is a very mild tasting berry that can be picked even when not totally ripe but Nova is a rather tart but very pretty berry that must be totally ripe (very dark red) or you'll have difficulty getting the berry off the bush. For more detailed information on both varieties and their relative strengths/problems click here. For those of you new to picking fall raspberries keep in mind that there are usually both blossoms and ripe fruit on each cane so you need to adopt a "two handed" picking approach (one to lift the canes and one to pick the berry) to avoid "picking" bees. Raspberry blossoms are extremely attractive to honey bees. Both late season raspberries are less productive than the June crop so we will continue to handle picking in low key fashion: 1. Customer self check in/out. 2. Customers may pick wherever they please (no field supervisor) 3. Picking status/conditions are not updated on our phone or web site. For information on picking conditions and hours for the current day, customers are welcome to call me on my cell phone 636-387-2695 before traveling to the farm. Pumpkins and Fall Decorations Dried Gourds
|
||||
June 15, 2008
Raspberries While red raspberry picking has been going one for the last week or so, picking has been limited to the two rows of new Prelude (see picture to left). Reveille is beginning to ripen and both Nova and Camby should be in production sometime during the next few days so peak picking is almost here. The very late ripening of Nova and Canby means we will probably have raspberries thru the first few days of July. We anticipate having a good crop of raspberries but the large number of emails that we send plus raspberry cards to last years customers arriving this week means their may be days when the flow of customers exceeds the supply of berries. As always, if you are coming later in the morning it would be a good idea to call before you come just to make sure that we are still open for raspberry picking. Strawberries
|
||||
May 30, 2008
Strawberries
It has been a cold and exceedingly wet spring --- the strawberries seemed to have pulled thru OK but it will be a record late start. Peak picking time will probably be June 3 thru June 17 with the season ending about June 22. Overall, it looks like a good strawberry crop. Our current plans are to have the traditional "early bird" picking Saturday, May 31. Since the lower level berries seem to be ripening up faster than the upper level, it's likely we will start picking in our lower level (entrance near pond). The heavy rains caused several road washouts in our lower level but we should be able to repair most of the damage by Saturday. We will open at 7:30 AM and close when we run out of berries or 11:00 AM -- whichever comes first. It is still early in the season, so picking will be scattered -- a few berries here and there so I would not recommend going with the expectation of picking large quantities of berries. If you need just a few fresh-from-the-farm berries this "early bird" picking might be just right for you. Early in the season it is always a good idea (particularly if you are coming later in the morning) to call the farm right before you drive out to get an up-to-date status report on strawberry availability and picking conditions. Since our upper Cabot strawberry area is ripening much slower than the lower Cabot area it is possible that we will have only ½ of our strawberry patch available during the first few days of the season which could force alternate day picking until the upper half begins to ripen. Berry size and row width in the upper area looks much larger than in the lower area. Dried Gourds |
||||
|
January 14, 2008
Just to keep you up-to-date on what's happening at Lakeview Farms.
Strawberries
Events in 2007 reinforced my opinion that Strawberries are becoming a very risky crop in Missouri . Cold temperatures of the Easter Freeze damaged even strawberry buds that were a week or two from opening. An extended wet spell during hot temperatures later in the season caused additional berry loss. While the Easter Freeze may be just an isolated event that may not occur again for the next 25 years, the berry damage problem in hot, wet weather seems to be a reoccurring event. In addition, root rot problems are increasing to the point where only one good year of production can be achieved before plant vigor and size are dramatically reduced and the strawberry patch must be plowed up and replanted. Raspberries
Despite the Easter Freeze we still had a satisfactory crop of red raspberries in 2007
that seemed to meet customer demand. In 2007 we removed all but two rows of our winter injury plagued Camby variety with Nova and a newer, slightly smaller, variety called Prelude.
The fall harvest of Prelude in 2007 in mid September to mid October was
particularly impressive and it now appears that we finally have a replacement
for the smaller Heritage that used to fruit in the excessively hot weather of
August and early September.While the fruit of Prelude is larger than Heritage, the flavor is not as pronounced as Heritage. Prelude should, however, be an excellent raspberry for those of you (like me) who think the Nova is too tart. We have pruned the new Prelude to fruit in the summer of 2008 (June) to see how it stacks up with the other summer raspberry varieties that we grow. Pumpkins & Fall Decorations Like last year, 2007 was a difficult pumpkin year and we ended up shutting down about 10 days before Halloween when our supply of orange carving pumpkins was exhausted. We continued to have serious difficulties growing the larger carving pumpkins due to early season root rot problems and Watermelon Mosaic Virus (WMV) later in the season. Post harvest rots due to internal breakdown and Phytophthora were unusually high considering the dry weather that we had throughout the season. I would appreciate hearing from my pumpkin customers on how well (or poorly) their 2007 pumpkins held up before carving. On the plus side, we had one of our best crops ever on the decorator pumpkins like Cotton Candy, Fairytale, and Orange Smoothie. Nearly all of the newer items like Full Moon giant pumpkins, Gold Dust mini pumpkins, la Estrada, and Galeux d'Dysines Squash performed well and appear to have excellent home decorating potential. Dried Gourds By spring of 2008 we should also have an excellent supply of canteen, birdhouse/kettle, martin house, cannon ball, mini Nigerian bottle, apple, snake, basket ball, and speckled swan dried gourds. Serious gourd crafters should consider attending the Missouri Show Me Gourd Society Festival in Sedalia, Missouri on April 26 & 27. For more information see www.showmegourdsociety.com. | ||||
|
September 4, 2007
Pumpkins and Fall Decorations Most items are now available but there are some exceptions such as Fairytale Pumpkins, Wee-Be-Little mini pumpkins, Red Warty Thing gourds ...which probably will not be ready until later in September. This looks like a good year for our huge prizewinner pumpkins and the best season ever for the white Cotton Candy and Orange Smoothie painting pumpkins. Some of the new squash items like Galeux d'Dysines and the Giant Pink Banana are spectacularly colored! The new huge white pumpkin Full Moon should be a big hit since it is easily carved.
Dried Gourds Fall Raspberries Our golden yellow raspberry, Anne, is still available but unfortunately peaked during the 90-100ºF weather of mid August which took a heavy toll on the total yellow raspberry crop. Like last year we'll operate on self check-in & check-out and no recorded crop report on the phone or website. If you have a question about up-to-the-minute picking status call me on my cell phone (636-387-2695) during the day. Picking is on a first come/first served basis and as usual I would not recommend making a special trip to our farm just to pick Raspberries. Fun Things for Kids | ||||
|
June 10, 2007
Red Raspberries Strawberries
|
||||
|
May 3, 2007
Here is an update on what impact the Easter freeze will have on our 2007 Strawberry & Raspberry season.
We plan to open normally with the usual email at the start of the season (very late May) and mail post cards to prior year strawberry customers in good standing about the same time. These cards were all printed, stamped, and addressed this January. There will be no restrictions on who can pick for the first few days of the season while the cards are being delivered but if the flow of customers appears likely to force inordinately early closings each day, we may take steps to limit picking to only 2007 strawberry card recipients. Be sure to check the berry hotline (636-978-8830) no earlier than the afternoon before you plan to visit our farm to see what the situation will be for the following day. No advertising or roadside signs will be used in 2007 and the newer Cabot acreage will be in our "stealth" area not visible from the road so if you drive by and don't see any activity be aware that we may be picking and parking in our lower (pumpkin) level.
|
||||
|
January 17, 2007
Just to keep you up-to-date on what's happening at Lakeview Farms. Customers in the News Strawberries Pumpkins & Fall Decorations Dried Gourds |
||||
|
September 18, 2006
Just in case you are interested in getting an early start on fall decorations, Lakeview Farms will be opening for decorative corn, gourds, squash, pumpkins, corn stalks and straw sales starting Monday, September 18, weather permitting. Almost all items are now available but there are
some exceptions such as Dried Gourds Raspberries Fun Things for Kids Most of the other fun things for kids like the corn maze, troll's trail, sorghum maze, diamond digs, gold & silver prospecting, treasure hunts are available during normal business hours. Like last year, the Hay Pyramid is a little behind schedule and probably will not be ready for another week or so. Keep in mind that we are closed Sundays in September and closed Mondays in early October. The Pumpkin Troll will be on duty starting in September 30 on Saturday & Sunday afternoon from 12 Noon to 4 PM.
|
||||
|
July 24, 2006
Ages 12 to 15 Keep in mind that Lakeview Farms does all its teenage hiring only once per year -- in September. If your son or daughter has thought about working at Lakeview Farms, now is the time to let us know that you are interested. Check out our website Employment.htm for more details. To be considered for teenage fall 2006 hiring we must receive their online application by August 5, 2006. Ages 9-12 |
||||
|
June 7, 2006
RASPBERRIES SUNDAY PICKING
|
||||
|
May 11, 2006
Strawberry time is coming a little early to Lakeview Farms. Overall, it looks like a good strawberry crop. Our current plans are to have the traditional "early bird" picking Monday, May 15. We will open slightly later than normal (at 8:00 AM) and close when we run out of berries or noon -- whichever comes first. Since it is still early in the season, picking will be scattered -- a few berries here and there so I would not recommend going with the expectation of picking large quantities of berries. If you need just a few fresh-from-the-farm berries this "early bird" picking might be just right for you. Early in the season it is always a good idea (particularly if you are coming later in the morning) to call the farm right before you drive out to get an up-to-date status report on strawberry availability and picking conditions. For a good rundown on the varieties that we grow and their relative strengths & weaknesses see: StrawberryVarietiesCombined.htm . Check StrawberryCropReport.htm for more information on how long the season is expected to last. Our hours and days open are listed in StrawberrySeason.htm Peak strawberry picking should be the last week of May and the first week of June. |
||||
|
January 10, 2006
2005 turned out to be one of those rare years when the weather cooperated to produce an excellent season in all crops. Strawberries Pumpkins, Gourds, Squash & Fall Decorations
|
||||
|
September 16, 2005
Just in case you are interested in getting an early start on fall decorations, Lakeview Farms will be opening for decorative corn, gourds, squash, pumpkins, corn stalks and straw sales starting Saturday, September 17, weather permitting. Almost all items are now available but there are some exceptions such as Fairytale Pumpkins, Cinderella Squash and most specialty gourds which probably will not be ready until late September. If you are looking for a specific item, check out our website for a detailed rundown on availability. This looks like an exceptionally good year for our usually temperamental white Lumina pumpkins and huge prizewinner pumpkins. New Items We have added a uniquely colored squash A good collection of dried gourds (both large and medium sized) is now available for sale although the few mini gourds and huge bushel basket gourds that we had were snapped up by "early bird" customers. We've also added a new large orange squash called Sunshine that looks very striking and a smaller red squash with a dark center -- appropriately called "Red Eye". New also for 2005 is a very tasty oriental Kabocha type squash called Sweat Mama and a very pretty and stringless edible white squash called Bush Delicata. Check our web sites for more information and a picture of each. Raspberries We do have a limited supply of Nova red raspberries for those who arrive early each day. Although we now have 600 feet of reasonably productive Nova, I would not suggest making a special trip to the farm just to pick raspberries. Like last year, this will be a "no frills" u-pick experience with self check-in & check-out and no recorded crop report on the phone or website. Picking is on a first come/first served basis. Fun Things for Kids Be sure to have the young kids pay a visit to our cute white ducks--unlike the Canadian Geese these domestic ducks are quite comfortable around kids and love being hand fed treats like bread or corn maze corn. Most of the other fun things for kids like the corn maze, troll's trail, sorghum maze, diamond digs, gold & silver prospecting, treasure hunts are available during normal business hours. The Hay Pyramid will not be ready for another week or so. Keep in mind that we are closed Sundays in September and closed Mondays in early October. The Pumpkin Troll will be on duty starting in October on Saturday & Sunday afternoon from 12 Noon to 4 PM.
|
||||
|
August 16, 2005
If you, your son, or daughter have thought about working at Lakeview Farms, now is the time to let us know that you are interested. Check out our website Employment.htm for more details. 9-12 Year olds who have applied for the trolls job via email during the last 7 months of 2005 will unfortunately need to resend their emails to troll@lakeview-farms.com . For some unknown reason, all emails sent to troll@lakeviewfarms.com were never forwarded and ended up somewhere in the "black hole" of the internet. I apologize for this inconvenience. Applications for teenage work direct from our website ApplicationForEmployment08.aspx seem to be working fine and getting to the right place but keep in mind that we only hire in September so it is critical that your son or daughter's application be received by the end of August if they wish to be considered for employment. Although we did "survive" without Ric Banholzer's fine adult field supervision help this berry season, things did get a little chaotic -- particularly the first two weeks of June. We probably need to add at least one or two adult field supervisors in 2006 for weekday mornings from Mid May to the end of June. This job does involves a lot of walking ,and working with our strawberry & raspberry customers, however. If this sounds like something you would like to do, send an email to mail@lakeview-farms.com (don't hit the reply to this email or it will end up in a stack of over 100 "return to sender" emails).
|
||||
|
June 7, 2005
SUNDAY PICKING RASPBERRIES
|
||||
|
May 19, 2005
It's strawberry time again at Lakeview Farms. Overall, it looks like an excellent strawberry crop again. Our current plans are to have the traditional "early bird" picking Saturday, May 21. We will open at 7:30 AM and close when we run out of berries. Since it is still early in the season, picking will be scattered -- a few berries here and there so I would not recommend trying to pick large quantities of berries. If you need just a few fresh-from-the-farm berries this "early bird" picking might be just right for you. As always, it might be a good idea (particularly if you are coming later in the morning) to call the farm right before you drive out to get an up-to-date status report on strawberry availability and picking conditions. For picking on Monday the choice will probably be limited to Darselect. For a good rundown on the varieties that we grow and their relative strengths & weaknesses see: StrawberryVarietiesCombined.htm Peak strawberry picking should be those first two weeks in June and we expect the season to last until roughly June 19 to 22 weather permitting. |
||||
|
April 15, 2005
Here is a short rundown on what's new at Lakeview Farms for 2005: Strawberries We are roughly 5 weeks away from the start of our strawberry season -- very similar to last year. There are two new blocks of the very large Cabot and two new blocks of DarSelect so you should so you should be able to pick lots of berries in just a short time. Since the first year Cabot berries are always the biggest, we will probably have some sort of contest for the kids to see who can pick the biggest berry. Pictures and berry weights will be posted on our web site after the season is over. Here is a cute picture of Sam from 2003 If mother nature cooperates with some nice sunny weather, we should also see some improvement in berry flavor over last year. We had to plow up almost all the Mesabi due to poor performance but our overall strawberry acreage is up from last year. Raspberries For 2005 our 6 new blocks of Nova and Reveille raspberries plus excellent winter survival of Camby and Anne should combine for one of our best June raspberry seasons in the last several year. Don't miss out! Pumpkins and Fall Decorations: It has been a difficult winter keeping the squirrels away but it looks as if we should have a nice selection of very small (Nigerian mini) thru huge (African Wine Kettle) dried gourds available for "crafty" decorating people this fall. Unfortunately, the very popular giant bushel basket gourds were sold out. For 2005 we will have a strikingly blue squash from Australia called Queensland Blue, a few exhibition sized Atlantic Giant pumpkins (over 300 lbs.), and a very popular Kabocha type squash (Sweet Mama) for oriental cooking. |
||||
|
January 29, 2005
What
You Need to Do -Important If you are interested in continuing to receive our newsletter it might be wise to check future emails and click any "confirm subscription" links that may be built into our email as a means of cutting down distribution. If you don't keep a white list, you can skip this next paragraph. Other News Our 2004 berry season was pretty much average (could have been better; could have been worse) I thought that the flavor of all the strawberry varieties in 2004 was only fair but it could be just old age with diminished sense of smell and taste or it could have been the excessive rains at midseason. Raspberries suffered some winter damage (unfortunately normal) but produced a satisfactory crop. Our 2004 pumpkin sales set another record but WMV (a plant virus) caused lower than normal yields forcing us to actually purchase a small portion of our pumpkins from another grower. There is no known way to avoid WMV which is transmitted by aphids who have just fed on an infected host plant (legumes like clover are aphids' favorite food). There are no pumpkin, squash, or gourd plants with total genetic resistance. Fortunately, WMV does not persist in the soil like strawberry black root rot. What's ahead for 2005
| ||||
|
Just in case you are interested in getting an early start on fall decorations, Lakeview Farms will be opening for decorative corn, gourds, squash, pumpkins, corn stalks and straw sales starting Friday, September 17, weather permitting. Almost all items are now available but there are some exceptions such as Fairytale Pumpkins, Mystic Plus Pie Pumpkins and some specialty gourds such as Caveman’s Club, and Snake which probably will not be ready until late September. If you are looking for a specific item, check out our website for a detailed rundown on availability. New Items We have added a new white Pumpkin called Cotton Candy that has ribs like a more traditional pumpkin – and appears to hold up much, much better than the very temperamental Lumina. We’ve also added a new large pumpkin called Aladdin that looks like a very large Magic Lantern. New also for 2004 is a really huge bushel basket gourd that would really add some pizzazz to your home fall decoration display – if you have “good help” lifting it into your car! The new miniature Nigerian Bottle gourds should also be a big hit for 2004. Pictures of the new 2004 additions will be posted to our web site by Sunday. Raspberries We do have a limited supply of Nova red raspberries for those who arrive early each day. Although we now have 600 feet of Nova versus the 150 feet last year, I would not suggest making a special trip to the farm just to pick raspberries. Like last year, this will be a “no frills” u-pick experience with self check in / check out and no recorded crop report on the phone or website. Fun Things for Kids Be sure to have the young kids pay a visit to our new cute white ducks—unlike the Canadian Geese these domestic ducks are quite comfortable around kids. Most of the other fun things for kids like the corn maze, sorghum maze, diamond digs, gold & silver prospecting, treasure hunts are available during normal business hours. The Hay Pyramid is a little behind schedule and probably will not be ready until next Tuesday, September 20. Keep in mind that we are closed Sundays in September and closed Mondays in October. The Pumpkin Troll will be on duty starting in October on Saturday & Sunday afternoon from 12 Noon to 4 PM (except for October 31).
|
||||
|
Raspberries It’s raspberry time at Lakeview Farms! While we have been allowing picking of our very early varieties Reveille and Nova for the last week to early morning strawberry customers, our main variety, Camby, is just now starting to ripen and will be available to customers on a first come first serve basis each morning. As always, it’s always a good idea early in the season to call before you come just in case customers are coming faster than the berries are ripening. If you plan on coming out specifically for large quantities of red raspberries you may want to wait for the peak of the season which should be the second and third week of June. Our new golden yellow raspberry, Anne, should start to become available about June 10. KEEP IN MIND THAT THERE WILL BE NO LATE SEASON RASPBERRY CROP IN EITHER 2004 OR 2005. Strawberries While we are still at the peak of our strawberry season, the wet weather has been very tough on our strawberry crop. While some varieties have been affected more than others, all varieties have been impacted and you will need to be very selective about what you pick. Excessive water like we have had for the last eight days causes normally firm berries to soften prematurely in warm weather. Despite all the bad weather there is still a good supply of green berries on our late Cabot, Mira, and Mesabi that will produce excellent fruit if Mother Nature cooperates for the next week or so. Teenage Employment Just a quick reminder: If your teenage son or daughter is interested in working at Lakeview Farms they need to apply by mid July to ensure that they are considered for fall hiring which begins in September. For more information go to our web site listed below and click on employment. Applications must be submitted online from our website. Sons and daughters of my regular berry customers who live in the vicinity of our farm are given preferential consideration.
|
||||
|
Strawberries It's strawberry time again at Lakeview Farms. Overall, it looks like an excellent strawberry crop again. While our strawberry season will formally get underway some time during the period May 18 to May 21 (with normal hours and a full staff), our current plans are to have the traditional "early bird" picking Monday, May 17. For Monday only we will open at 8:00 AM and close when we run out of berries. Since it is still early in the season, I would not recommend trying to pick large quantities of berries but if you need just a few delicious fresh-from-the-farm berries this "early bird" picking might be just right for you. As always, it might be a good idea (particularly if you are coming later in the morning) to call the farm right before you drive out to get an up-to-date status report on strawberry availability and picking conditions. We have eliminated two of our older varieties (Allstar & Earliglo) and added three new ones – check out our web site below for more detailed information on each new variety. For picking on Monday the choice will probably be limited to Darselect With the hotter weather we have had during bloom time, I am expecting a much more compressed (shorter) harvest season – with picking ending about mid June so don’t wait too long. Check our web site listed below for more information and pictures of our newest varieties. Hall of Fame (or Infame as the case may be) For those of you who have worked at Lakeview Farms in the past or have a son, daughter, neighbor, or friend who has….check out the web site “Hall of Fame” for some interesting stories regarding previous employees. At last count there were over twenty five stories written and several more in process.
|
||||
| January 10, 2004
Just in case you are wondering what’s going on here at Lakeview Farms: Strawberries Our Strawberry season in 2003 was one of the best we have had in several years due to excellent weather. The huge Cabot strawberries were a big hit and we will be planting additional acreage in 2004. The good news is that three new varieties will be available for picking in 2004: Darselect, Mesabi, and Mira. Check out our website (click on Strawberries then varieties we grow) for pictures and flavor characteristics of these new Strawberries. The bad news for 2004 is that we have had to plow up two of our older varieties (Earliglo and Allstar) that had a very loyal customer following. While none of the three new varieties will be quite as flavorful as Earliglo, Darselect will come pretty close. All three new varieties will be good sized (but not as big as Cabot) and have excellent freezing qualities which Allstar lacked. Raspberries Our early season Raspberry crop was generally pretty good in 2003. The two new varieties customers sampled in 2003, Reveille and Nova, seemed to get mixed reviews. Reveille looks very similar in size and flavor to our old standby variety Camby, but is slightly softer and more prone to sunburn. I thought Nova was an excellent tasting berry but some customers felt it was a little too tart and difficult to pick unless completely ripe. Both new raspberries seemed much less susceptible to winter injury than Camby which is a major problem when temperatures in the winter dip into the single digits which unfortunately happens here more often than not. For 2004 we will plant additional acreage of both Nova and Reveille for lack of another good alternative to Camby. We continued to have serious size problems on our Heritage late season raspberry for the third year in a row and I am afraid we will need to plow up this variety as well. Heritage is a great tasting raspberry but unfortunately matures in the hottest part of our St. Louis summers (mid July thru early September). There appears to be a good replacement for Heritage on the horizon from Maryland called “Deborah” but plants won’t be available until 2005 at the earliest. Fall Decorations & Pumpkins Early frosts shortened the pumpkin growing season so Pumpkins were slightly smaller than last year but quality was excellent. For people looking for the “really huge pumpkin” and capable of getting it into their vehicle, the new Prizewinner pumpkins were a winner. We managed to keep a good inventory of most items throughout the season but the shelves got a little lean the last two days before Halloween. Overall, we had an excellent season once again. The new squash, decorative broom corn, and gourd varieties were well received (except for the bicolor lil-pump-ke-mon which only I seemed to like). For 2004 we will have over 50 different items available for sale. New items for 2004 will include two new interesting white squashes with red/pink and orange/red stripes. Fun Things for Kids My creative side took a holiday in 2003 with no major new activities but I have some interesting ideas for 2004….. Look out!
|
||||
|
Just in case you are interested in getting an early start on fall decorations, Lakeview Farms will be opening for decorative corn, gourds, squash, pumpkins, corn stalks and straw sales starting Monday, September 16, weather permitting. Almost all items are now available but there are some exceptions such as White Lumina and Fairytale Pumpkins, Speckled Swan and African Wine Kettle gourds which probably will not be ready until early October. If you are looking for a specific item, check out our website for a detailed rundown on availability or……. Just come out and browse our collection and take home a free large gourd and squash (see the offer below). New Items We have practically doubled our selection of items available for sale in 2003. Some of the major additions are: Prizewinner Giant (100 lb.+) pumpkins (I have finally caved in to customer demand to grow this huge monstrosity that you normally find at Romachs in Chesterfield but I am not sure how customers are going to get these pumpkins home) Decorative (and edible) Squash: we have added 5 new very large squash varieties with real eye appeal that would be suitable for a spectacular outdoor or indoor display. A new, smaller acorn squash, Celebration, has a striking orange stripe on yellow background. Heirloom Pumpkins: Those of you who tried the old heirloom pumpkin Long Island Cheese last year probably found out that it lasted forever. We actually had a few left over in the field that were still in good shape up to Christmas 2002. For 2003, two additional heirloom pumpkins: Cinderella (deep orange red) and Fairytale (buckskin brown) have also been added. Both are reported to have good keeping qualities. Free large Gourd and large Squash Giveaway We have planted several new squash and gourd varieties and would like to give people the opportunity of using them in their fall decorations so we are giving away a large gourd (your choice of either: Italian snake, Caveman’s Club, Bushel Basket, Apple, or Dipper/Birdhouse) plus some pretty spectacular large decorative squash (your choice of either: Cushaw Green & Orange Stripe, Blue & Orange Magic, or Red Warty Thing). The only two requirements for this free offer: bring a copy of this email and come in the month of September. Pictures of nearly all these items are shown on our website www.lakeview-farms.com click on pumpkins/fall decorations, then varieties we grow. Fun Things for Kids All of our fun things for kids like the straw pyramid, corn maze, sorghum maze, diamond digs, gold & silver prospecting, treasure hunts …. are available during normal business hours either week day or week end. The Pumpkin Troll will be on duty starting in October every Saturday & Sunday afternoon from 12 Noon to 4 PM.
|
||||
|
Red Raspberries Our delicious late season raspberries will be available for picking this Saturday, July 19, starting at 8:00 AM. Picking is usually scattered the first few days and berry availability can be limited so if you are coming later in the morning it would be a good idea to call before you come just to be sure we still have a good supply of berries. Overall, the crop looks very similar to last year in quantity and quality. During the hotter days of July and August we will need to shut down about 11:00 AM to begin misting the berries to prevent sunburn. Sunburn on late red raspberries is usually more of a cosmetic problem (white spots) and does not usually affect quality or taste. For more information and some good raspberry recipes, go to our website listed below. Yellow Raspberries Despite my best efforts to delay ripening by permitting June fruiting, the yellow raspberries are unfortunately coming in about the same time as last year ( Now, in the heat of the summer ). We found that the yellow raspberry foliage is very susceptible to leaf spot (similar to rose leaf spot) so the usual technique for preventing sunburn, misting with overhead irrigation, is not feasible. Some other way to keep the berries cool will need to be found or serious fruit softness will be a problem like last year. Any ideas would be appreciated. Teenage Employment Just a quick reminder: If your teenage son or daughter is interested in working at Lakeview Farms they need to apply by mid August to ensure that they are considered for fall hiring which begins in September. For more information go to our web site listed below and click on employment. Applications must be submitted online from our website. Sons and daughters of my regular berry customers who live in the vicinity of our farm are given preferential consideration.
|
||||
|
Raspberries It’s raspberry time at Lakeview Farms! While we have been allowing picking of our very early variety Reveille for the last week to early morning strawberry customers, our main variety, Camby, is just now starting to ripen and will be available to customers on a first come first serve basis each morning. If you plan on coming out specifically for large quantities of red raspberries I suggest waiting for the peak of the season which should be June 10 to June 25 and call before you come. Our new golden yellow raspberry, Anne, should start to become available about June 15. Strawberries The cool wet weather has helped create one of the best strawberry crops we have had in the last ten years. The huge Cabot strawberries are now at their peak and a good supply of the medium sized Allstar is still available. There is still a good supply of the sweet Earliglo but picking is slow due to the small size. Open Sunday June 8 Due to the bumper crop of Strawberries we will have our first Sunday picking (in several years) tomorrow, June 8, from 12 Noon to 4:00 PM.
|
||||
| May
15, 2003
It's strawberry time again at Lakeview Farms. Overall, it looks
like an |
||||
| February
26, 2003 Strawberries Despite the bitter cold of these last two weeks, the Strawberries were nestled under a nice layer of straw mulch and snow and are well protected. Last year (2002) our new Jewel strawberry planting was somewhat of a disappointment -- the heavy rains in May (a total of over 10 inches) caused considerable root rot and most plants wilted in the hot weather that followed before customers could pick the first berry. Jewel would have been an excellent tasting, large, and very attractive berry; I sampled a few before we plowed up the field and the flavor reminded me of an old favorite, Redchief. As I remember from the early 80's Redchief was also very prone to root rots. For 2003 we will be harvesting the old standards Earliglo & Allstar plus a new late season variety called Cabot that comes to us from our Canadian friends up north in Kent, Nova Scotia. This is an extremely large berry like you would buy in the supermarket except that the flavor is much better and it is (of course) not nearly as rock hard. The only question remaining is how the ripe Cabot berry will hold up in our hot Missouri climate. The shape of the very earliest berries is somewhat irregular but later berries seem more normal. You can see a picture of Cabot on our website www.lakeview-farms.com (click on strawberries then varieties we grow). Raspberries Our summer raspberry, Camby, did not have the benefit of a warm straw & snow blanket that the strawberries did so I am pretty sure that we got winter damage to the upper canes again-- probably like 2000, 2001, and 2002. While it will make for a smaller harvest in 2003 I am thankful that the low temperatures occurred so we can test the winter hardiness of two new raspberry varieties (Nova & Reveille) that we test planted last year. Both Nova and Reveille are reported to have excellent winter hardiness and the few berries I tasted last year seemed quite good but we will probably need your input on taste before we plant too many. The Nova in particular is an exceptionally attractive dark raspberry that I have been impressed with so far. Nova it will produce a fall crop in mid September even if the canes are totally killed with low winter temperatures during the winter--- that's my kind of raspberry! You can see a picture of Nova on our website www.lakeview-farms.com (click on Raspberries then varieties we grow). Response to our new fall yellow raspberry, Anne, was mixed in 2002. Customers either loved or hated the flavor which tended to very tart for berries fruiting during the warmer weeks of the season. As the weather got cooler, Anne, developed a vary attractive golden yellow color but still remained slightly more tart (acidic) that our standard variety Heritage. For 2003, we will prune Anne to be harvested in June and hopefully avoid some of the high temperature problems like sunburn we experienced in 2002. Anne is the largest raspberry we have ever grown! Pumpkins & Fall Decorations 2002 was another record year for Pumpkins/Fall Decorations and they have now become Number 1 in sales. Irrigation proved critical throughout the long hot summer but the overall crop was excellent. Several farm record sized pumpkins were taken from our patch -- you can see some pictures on our website www.lakeview-farms.com (click on pumpkins then photos). Interest in novelty gourds/squash and heirloom pumpkins seems to be rising so we are expanding our selection of gourds and squash in 2003. The "hottest" new item for 2002 was our new painting pumpkin, Orange Smoothie. If you did not see this item last year be sure to try a few in 2003 -- we are planting a lot more for 2003 so availability should not be a problem. While all varieties except Howden seemed to exhibit better "keeping" qualities in 2003, Orange Smoothie was exceptional. Let me know how your pumpkins kept for you when you drop by in 2003. Overall, you should have had excellent luck with keeping pumpkins in 2002. For 2003 we are finally caving in to customer demand and will grow (I hope) a few of the huge 100 lb. pumpkins you see at Rombacks in Chesterfield. I have also located a huge 50 lb. African Kettle gourd that could be a real attention getter on your front porch. The nice thing about gourds is that they are practically indestructible, almost never rot, and can be carried into next year and painted after they dry. |
||||
|
We will be open starting this Monday, September 16, for those of
you who would like to get an early start on fall decorations. We
should have a good selection of gourds, squash, pumpkins, plus other
decorating items like straw and corn stalks.
New for 2002 are several new pumpkins targeted for home
decoration like the green Australian pumpkin "Jardale", the
brown antique pumpkin "Long Island Cheese", and the painting
pumpkin "Orange Smoothie". Check out pictures of
these items on our web site www.lakeview-farms.comlakeview-farms.com
click on pumpkins & fall decorations then click on varieties
then click on decorator pumpkins. Several strikingly
pretty squash varieties (which can be used either for decoration
or cooking) are also new for 2002.
Even if you aren't interested in decorating at this time bring the
kids by to try out our climbing hay pyramid with tunnels, corn
maze for kids over 8, sorghum maze for kids under
8, or try some of the other fun activities like dig for
diamonds, prospect for gold, or the high tech treasure
hunt for the troll's cache. Check out these "Fun
things to do" on our web site. If you have children in
the 3 to 7 year old category don't miss our Pumpkin troll the
last three (possibly all 4??) weekends of October. Please note
that there are only special hours and days that the troll is on duty
-- see the schedule on our web site: click Fun Things
then Visit the Troll.
Overall, it looks like a another good high quality crop of
pumpkins, squash, and gourds due to the extremely dry
weather we have had the whole season. High temperatures
caused pollination/fruit set on our large Gold Rush pumpkins to be
only fair so there will be fewer big pumpkins but those that we do
have are REALLY BIG! There should be no
need to rush out early but if you or your family likes to
wander around the pumpkin patch looking for that "perfect
pumpkin" don't wait until late October. Early
frosts or rainy weather have forced us to remove almost all
the pumpkins from the field early these last two years. In
addition, pumpkins exposed to cold weather before they have had a
chance to "cure" are much more prone to rot. There
is a very good discussion of the pros and cons of when
to pick your own pumpkin on our web site: Click on Tips
then click on Pumpkins.
Yellow Raspberries
Our new Anne yellow Raspberries are finally starting to look good
now with the cooler weather. Raspberries exposed to the sun
in the hot weather of the last few weeks literally
"cooked and turned to mush" on the vine. The
color is very pretty and the size is large, however. Since
we have just two rows of this variety I would suggest
calling before you come out to check out availability unless
your are planning on coming for fall decorations & pumpkins anyway.
We have some good pictures of the Anne yellow raspberry on
our web site: click on Raspberries, then click on late
raspberry crop report. Our yellow raspberry hours will
be the same hours as the pumpkins so you late rising afternoon
berry pickers should finally have a chance to pick berries.
|
||||
|
As is customary, we will allow some test picking of our late red
raspberry variety this Saturday, July 20, at 8:00 AM.
Picking will be typical of the early season -- a few scattered
ripe berries but mostly berries that are still not quite ripe
yet. There are no restrictions on who picks but I would suggest
that people coming later ( I never really know what "later"
means ) in the morning should call to get an update on berry
availability. Our next picking day will depend upon how things
go -- a phone message will be posted Saturday afternoon on our
answering machine.
Check out our web site www.lakeview-farms.comlakeview-farms.com
for information on pricing (late raspberries are priced lower than
early season raspberries and have a volume discount), days
and hours we are open, how long the season will last, and peak
picking times. Do try to come early in the morning when it is
cooler for your children's and your own comfort. Keep
in mind that we will to shut down before our normal closing time
to begin irrigating the berries during very hot, sunny weather to
prevent sunburned berries. Call ahead if you have any questions.
Yellow Raspberries
I have been enjoying yellow raspberries in my cereal now for two or
three weeks. The flavor is actually quite similar to our
red raspberries but the size is much larger. We will
probably have a few yellow raspberries available for picking each day
on a first come first serve basis. I would anticipate
that the peak of the yellow raspberry season will probably
not occur until late August or September.
Keep in mind that for both late Raspberry and Pumpkin seasons we will
be generally be open on Sunday and generally closed on
Mondays although there will be some exceptions.
|
||||
|
June 12, 2002
For the next few days our customers will have the opportunity to pick both Raspberries and Strawberries.
Strawberries:
Despite the terrible weather we have had for the last two weeks we
still have a good supply of our late varieties like Allstar and Jewel. Some
berries have been spoiled so you will need to be selective about what
you pick. Earliglow are still available and but at the end
of their season so picking will be more difficult because the
smaller berry size - the Earliglow do hold up better under wet
weather, however.
Early Raspberries:
Early red raspberries are just starting to come in and are seldom
affected by adverse weather. Raspberry picking will probably
will probably extend all the way to July 7. Check out our
web site for pricing, hours, and days open. Be sure to call no
earlier than the afternoon or evening of the day before you plan to
come to check out berry availability.
Those customers who picked raspberries last year will
receive a post card from us in a few days. I will not be able
to process and send raspberry cards to all the new customers and old
customers that came out to pick strawberries and expressed
an interest in raspberries but you are still welcome to pick
raspberries -- you will definitely receive a card from us for the late
season raspberries starting around the first of August.
Troll Applications
Due to a hard drive failure on our computer and my failure to create a
timely backup of email messages I have lost all troll
applications sent from May 13 though June 9. If your ( 9 to 12 year
old ) son or daughter sent me a email message during that period
please ask them to resend it. If you're wondering what this is
all about, check out the "employment" category on our web
site listed below.
|
||||
|
January 24, 2002
Just in case you are wondering what will be happening at Lakeview Farms this year --- here is a short run down:
A Jewel of a new Strawberry
We will have a new (for us) variety of
strawberries available for picking this May called Jewel. It has
an excellent flavor reminiscent of Red Chief, good dark color, excellent
freezing qualities and has proved to be a very popular variety in New
England. Unfortunately, it is even later than Allstar so roughly
two thirds of our 2002 acreage will be in later varieties. This
could be a problem early in the season where we have only Earliglo
available for picking so we will probably delay mailing postcards until
somewhat later in the season. Since you are one of my
"wired" customers however, you will continue to receive
a email at the very start of the season.
Do You believe -- Yellow
Raspberries
The size (and tendency to ripen during
very hot weather) of our late season raspberry ( Heritage ) has
been a problem for the last two years so we are trying a few rows of an
exciting new late season raspberry called Anne. Anne has a
beautiful golden yellow color, very large size, and flavor to die for.
We are expecting modest first year quantities of this
variety to be available in September and October -- during pumpkin time
! We will continue to have early red raspberries in June and
regular Heritage late season Red Raspberries in August &
September.
Bye Bye Blackberries
While the flavor and size of our Shawnee
blackberries has always been exceptional, we have had serious problems
with winter cane damage when the temperature got close to zero.
The end result was extreme variability in crop size from one year to the
next. During 2001, for example, we were forced to restrict
picking to only long standing blackberry customers. Unfortunately
over the years, this damage has occurred more often than not. This
winter damage was usually compounded with other difficulties such as
sunburn, thrips, cane blight, and cane borers which made production
of blackberries an extremely risky proposition.
While we will have no blackberries available
for sale in 2002, Windridge farms in New Melle run by Carole &
Barry Shortt http://c.shortt.tripod.com/WindRidgeFarm/PageMill/home.html should
have a nice selection of several different blackberry varieties
available in 2002 assuming the above normal weather patterns continue. Even
in the event of colder weather, I would expect that Windridge
Farm's higher elevation location should be less inclined to winter
damage than my old blackberry patch along the creek. Get on
Carol's electronic mail list if you are interested.
Pumpkins & Fall Decorations
Last year ( 2001 ) was another good year --
we managed even to have a few extra pumpkins to give away the day after
Halloween. Because of the mild and dry weather, uncarved pumpkins
on our home porch were still in good condition in mid December. We
finally had to pitch these otherwise excellent pumpkins to
make way for Christmas decorations! I am sure several of you had
the same experience. The new sorghum maze for kids was a really
big hit !
We have noticed over the last few years that
people are using fall decorating items like gourds, Indian Corn, stalks,
squash ... in increasing numbers all the way from September
thru November. While searching the web, I was amazed to see how
some of these items can be used. Check out our web site below
(click on pumpkins then on decorating ideas) for some pleasant
browsing during these long winter nights. For 2002 we plan to
have an even larger collection of hard-to-find decorating items like strikingly
pretty "but edible" squash, red corn stalks, and
unusually shaped gourds.
|
||||
|
If you would like to get an early
start on fall decorations (pumpkins, Indian Corn, gourds, corn
stalks...) we have a great selection now. We have added some
really interesting gourds (like Autumn Wings) and a very attractive pink
decorative corn (Indian Art 101). Two new pumpkin varieties Autumn
King (large size) and Magic Lantern (medium size) have exceptionally
good color and very interesting long curved handles.
Check out pictures of these new items on our web site www.lakeview-farms.com. (Click
on Pumpkins then varieties )
Just for Kids
Even if you aren't interested in decorating
at this time bring the kids by to try out our climbing hay pyramid
with tunnels, corn maze for kids over 8, new sorghum
maze for kids under 8, or try some of the other fun activities
like dig for diamonds, prospect for gold, or the new high tech
treasure hunt for the troll's cache. Check out these
"Fun things to do" on our web site. If you have children
in the 3 to 7 year old category don't miss our Pumpkin troll the
last three weekend of October. Please note that there are only special
hours and days that the troll is on duty.
When to come
Overall, it looks like a good high
quality crop of pumpkins, corn, and gourds due to the extremely dry
weather we have had the whole season. The white Lumina pumpkins in
particular look really good. With the excellent supply and quality
of pumpkins we have there should be no need to rush out early but if you
or your family likes to wander around the pumpkin patch looking for
that "perfect pumpkin" don't wait until the last moment. Early
frosts or rainy weather can force us to remove the pumpkins from the
field. Uncarved pumpkins should last two months if kept out of
direct sunlight and protected during freezing nights. Supply
permitting, we will replace any pumpkins that go bad free of charge.
In general, the smaller pumpkins keep better that the large
pumpkins.
Due to growing problems our high demand
Gold Rush large pumpkins and We-be-little mini pumpkins could sell
out early. Our supply of straw and cornstalks is somewhat
limited as well. If you plan to come very late in the season be
sure to check out "pumpkin availability" on our web site. I
do not expect a repeat of the Year 2000 "pumpkin panic" the
last few days before Halloween but you may remember that this very same
newsletter last year said there was "no need to rush out
early" so my crystal ball can be a little unreliable.
|
||||
| July
19, 2001
Our late red raspberry season will begin
tomorrow, Friday, July 20, at 8:00 AM. Picking will be
typical of the early season -- somewhat scattered. There are
no restrictions on who picks but I would suggest that people coming
later ( I never really know what "later" means ) in the
morning should call to get an update on berry availability. Check
out our web site www.lakeview-farms.com
for information on pricing (late raspberries are priced lower than early
season raspberries and have a volume discount), how long the season will
last, and peak picking times.
Keep in mind that for both late Raspberry
and Pumpkin seasons we will be generally be open on Sunday (opening
later ) and generally closed on Mondays.
|
||||
| June
19, 2001
Due to the limited supply of blackberries this year at Lakeveiw Farms
we |
||||
| May
30, 2001
For the next few days our customers will
have the rare opportunity to pick both Raspberries and Strawberries.
Strawberries:
We still have a good supply of our late varieties like Allstar and
Lateglo. The earlier varieties like Earliglow are still
available but getting toward the end of their season so
picking will be more difficult because the smaller berry size.
Early Raspberries:
Early red raspberries are just starting to come in. As is
customary, we will let in a few customers to test pick Thursday May 31
and Friday June 1 starting at 8:00 AM. We will do this on a first
come, first serve basis so it would be a good idea to call RIGHT
before you leave just to get the latest availability and
picking conditions report. I will start answering phone calls
starting at 7:30 AM if you have any questions. The Early Raspberry
season this year will be unusually short because of the hot 90º weather
during peak bloom. I am estimating now that the Early Red
Raspberry season will end June 25. Peak picking should be from
June 7 thru June 21. Check out our web site for pricing, hours,
and days open.
Those customers who picked raspberries
last year or who otherwise indicated that they were interested in
getting on our raspberry mail list will receive a post card from us in a
few days. I may not able to process and send raspberry cards
to all the new customers that came out to pick strawberries on Memorial
Day weekend and later but you are still welcome to pick raspberries.
|
||||
| May
10, 2001
Although we won't officially be open for
strawberry picking until some time next week, there are a few scattered
Earliglow strawberries available for those early birds who are
willing to look hard for them.
As is customary, we will let in a few
customers to test pick ( Saturday starting a 8:00 AM and again on
Monday at 8:00 AM). We will do this on a first come, first serve
basis so it would be a good idea to call before you come just to
get the latest situation report. I will start answering phone
calls starting at 7:30 AM on Saturday and Monday. While this
preseason "test picking" has been standard operating
procedure for the last several years, this is the first time we have
notified people by email so I do not know how many people to expect
which is all the more reason to call before you come.
My expectation NOW is
that the strawberry season will last until at least thru June 10
but...as people found out last year with the late rains... you never
know what might happen in the future. Those customers who picked
strawberries last year or who otherwise indicated that they were
interested in getting on our strawberry mail list will receive a post
card from us in a few days when the strawberries become a little more
numerous.
|
||||
| January
31, 2001
Fun things for Kids
Our new "Prospect for Gold" and
"Dig for Diamonds" activities were a huge hit with the kids in
2000; if you don't know what I'm talking about visit our
web site www.lakeview-farms.com
and click on "Fun Things to do" for some really cute pictures
of kids having fun. We'll probably have some new things in 2001
along the lines of an old fashioned "treasure map" or
"geocaching" if you have one of those new high tech Global
Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers like Magellan.
Strawberries
Our strawberries were straw mulched right on
schedule in early December so they are looking in pretty good
shape now. For 2001 we will also have the variety
"Earliglo" available for picking. Long time
customers may remember the exquisite flavor and very pretty red
color of Earliglo -- almost as good a flavor as wild strawberries !
The size of Earliglo unfortunately does go down as the season progresses
but the sugar content (sweetness) increases to the point where you can
usually eliminate or greatly reduce the sugar you normally
need to use.
Raspberries
It is a little early yet to tell about our
early raspberry crop -- we generally get February and March damage
in those years where we have had mild winters (like 1999 and 2000).
The extra cold weather of November, December, and January should have
put the Raspberries into a very dormant ( protected state ) so I am
optimistic for 2001.
Blackberries
Alas, there are some bad things to report
--- the ten below zero weather we had a few weeks ago (right after
that big snowfall) was very tough on our blackberries. All canes
and fruit bud above the snow line (roughly 6 to 8 inches) were
killed. Assuming we don't get any more subzero weather, the undamaged
lower Shawnee blackberry canes will compensate with huge
berries but the overall crop will probably only be 20 to 30%
of normal --- enough for roughly 100 of our "gold
seal" loyal, longstanding, blackberry customers.
Crop size will probably be close to 1996 & 1997 where picking access was
handled on an appointment only basis.
Pumpkins
Despite the problems other pumpkin growers
around the area had in 2000, we had another record year. On a
negative note: the customers who waited until the very last few days
before Halloween were disappointed to discovered that "early
birds" had cleaned us out of medium and large pumpkins. As
you may recall my e-newsletter in late September said there was "no
reason to rush out early" but obviously this was not one of my
smartest comments. While we did update pumpkin availability at our
web site each evening the last two weeks before Halloween,
I probably should have sent out another e-mail warning people not
to wait too long.
Mailing Lists
With the advent of our e-newsletter and
web site I have gotten several questions from customers inquiring
whether we will continue to send out postcards when the berries are
ripe. In a nutshell, the rules for sending out postcards will not
change: For a normal crop customers who picked the crop
the previous year, mailed back their card, or otherwise expressed an
interest the prior year will continue to receive a card from us.
If it appears that we will have a large crop, customers who
missed picking last year but have a record of picking consistently
over the last few years will also receive a card from us.
Obviously, when we have a very short crop like blackberries in 2001, the
rules will be different.
If you would like to be removed from the
distribution of this newsletter or mail list just send us a short
e-mail.
|
||||
| September
22, 2000
If you need to get an early start on fall
decorations (pumpkins, Indian Corn, corn stalks...) we have a great
selection now. We have added two new varieties in the mid size
range ( 10 to 16 lbs) Gold Standard and Gold Fever that look
particularly good. Check out pictures of our other new pumpkin
varieties and fun things for the kids on our web site www.lakeview-farms.com.
If you have children in the 3 to 7 year old category don't miss
"visit the troll" in the fun things to do section of our web
site (please note that there are only special hours and days that the
troll is on duty).
Overall, it looks like a bumper crop of
pumpkins roughly two weeks ahead of schedule (like all of our fruit
crops) so we will give every newsletter customer who brings a copy of
this e-mail a free Hybrid Pam pumpkin (roughly 4 to 5 lbs in weight
and 6 to 7 inches wide and selling for $1.50) until we run out of
this variety. There is a good picture of Hybrid Pam on our web
site: click Pumpkins then varieties then small. I am hoping our
supply of Hybrid Pams will last until mid October but this is just my
guess -- don't wait too long.
With the excellent supply and quality of
pumpkins we have there should be no need to rush out early but the early
season will force us to take pumpkins out of the field much quicker than
normal so if you or your family likes to wander around the pumpkin
patch looking for that "perfect pumpkin" you may need to come
out a little early this year. Some high demand items like our
Lumina white carving pumpkin will probably sell out early too.
|
||||
| July
16, 2000
Late raspberry picking started Saturday,
July 15, roughly two weeks earlier than normal. Early berry size
appears normal and it looks as if we should have a really good
crop. Check out our web site www.lakeview-farms.com
for more details but be sure to call our farm no earlier than
the afternoon or evening before you are planning to pick to
verify hours and picking conditions. It is still very early in the
season so we may need to close some days after heavy picking to allow
the berries an opportunity to ripen.
|
||||
| July
10, 2000
BLACKBERRIES
The blackberry crop is turning out much
better than I expected. Size of the later berries is good and
flavor is excellent. We still have an excellent supply and picking
is good but don't wait too long. You might want to stock up
for those lean years where subzero Missouri temperatures reduce our
blackberry crop. Bring a copy of this e-mail -- it's worth free
berries.
LATE RASPBERRIES
For those of you who missed our early
raspberry crop, I have good news -- the late raspberries are looking
excellent. It will be a very early season ( we have seen some ripe
berries already) but unfortunately start in the part of the year
where we must irrigate during the hottest part of the day to prevent
sunburning. I would guess picking will begin around the third week
of July -- we will confirm this in our next e-newsletter.
|
||||
| June
16, 2000
EARLY RASPBERRIES
We still have a good supply of early
raspberries and I am expecting that the season should last for another
week or two. We are still limiting early picking ( 8:00 AM until
10:00 AM ) to those customers (and their friends) who have received
raspberry cards (or this e-mail) from me. If you haven't received
a raspberry card, be sure to bring a copy of this e-mail when you
come to pick.
BLACKBERRIES
Our blackberry season started today, June
15. It is still early in the season so picking is a little more
scattered than it will be in a week or two. This is not a good
time for picking large quantities of blackberries but if you are looking
for just a few pints and willing to hunt around a little more, you are
more than welcome to give it a try. There are a huge number
of easy-to-reach berries on the bushes but it looks as if the berry
size will be much smaller than normal due to a combination of the huge
berry load, dry weather last summer, and a severe mite outbreak three
weeks ago. Flavor and appearance are normal.
The blackberry season should last until mid
to late July.
|
||||
| June
4, 2000
Early raspberries opened for picking
Saturday, June 3.
We unfortunately experienced upper cane
winter damage similar to 1999 and severe spider mite (an microscopic
insect that sucks on the leaves) damage in May and are expecting about
the same size crop as last year (which fortunately turned out to be
enough for our regular raspberry customers and their friends).
Although raspberry cards will not be mailed for a few days you
and any friends you bring are still welcome to pick in the meantime.
It is still very early in the season so picking will probably be
somewhat scattered and on a "first come, first serve basis"
starting a 8:00 AM. Berry size on Saturday's picking looked
similar to last year -- slightly larger than normal.
Once all our raspberry customers who picked
last year have received their raspberry cards we will probably begin
restricting early raspberry picking to only "card carrying"
raspberry customers and their friends. Call our farm number or
check out our web site for more information.
|
||||
| May
5, 2000
Dear Strawberry Customer,
It looks as if our strawberry season this
year will be the earliest ever (at least for 21 years).
I actually picked the first pint of
strawberries Tuesday, May 2. It looks like some of our Del Marvel
is ripening fast enough that we can allow a few pickers into the field
tomorrow morning, Saturday, May 6, starting a 8:00 AM. Picking
will be scattered as it usually is early in the season but if you are
looking for just a few pounds of berries to tide you over until they are
plentiful this may be a good opportunity. Berries supply is
limited so do call before you come out just to be sure.
|
||||
| Looking
for a U-Pick Farm?
Lakeview farms is a family oriented pick your own ( PYO, u-pick ) strawberry, raspberry, and pumpkin farm / pumpkin patch located in St. Charles County Missouri ( MO ) near O'Fallon and St. Peters which is in the St. Louis metro area. If you are searching for a farm like ours (or Farmer's Market) in the St. Louis area, place your mouse on the "ask farmer Carl" in the left index then "where can I find a u-pick farm". If you live outside of the St. Louis metro area, your state agricultural university ( like: Purdue, Cornell, Michigan State, Univ. California at Davis, Ohio State, Penn State, University of Maine, Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas State, Clemson, Univ. Maryland, Rutgers (NJ), Univ. Mass, Virginia Tech, and the Univ. Wisconsin....) extension service may have an online or hard copy publication listing the farms in your area. Failing that, here are some nation wide web sites that you could try: Local Harvest: www.localharvest.org This California based service is probably the best source but leans heavily toward organic production. This is also an excellent source for Farmer's Markets. www.pickyourown.org J.B. Slemmer of Atlanta, GA created this site which looks pretty good for some parts of the US. J.B. (Blake) also has a sister site http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/ that lists pumpkin patches. Both sites have very high traffic (hits) so this appears to be a site that lots of people are using. One of the newest and fastest growing "find it" sites (not yet as complete as I would prefer) is Map Muse www.mapmuse.com . Click on "family fun" then "Pick Your Own Fruits and Vegetables" or "Pumpkin Patches". If you live in Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, or Nebraska a good source of information is the Market Maker: http://www.marketmaker.uiuc.edu/ Don't forget the standard search engine's "local map" search capability: http://www.google.com/maps and http://maps.yahoo.com/index.php#env=F . Type in your home zip code, the word "farm" and whatever fruit you are looking for. Virtual Farm: www.v-farm.com. This Canadian service has lots of USA fruit and vegetable farm listings but I am not sure you can tell which farms are open to the public for pick you own ( PYO, u-pick, u pick ). V-Farm is particularly strong in cattle, goats, sheep, and smaller animals. Unfortunately, this site is not updated as frequently as it should be so some of the information could be dated. |
||||