Saturday June 27, 2009 ---- One of the problems with our operation is that things have to be done in a timely manner, the plants do not take vacations or stop growing for a 'little time off', seeds have to be planted at the right time, weeds need to be controlled, vines pruned and so on and so on.  Last week we spent a few days in Galveston, we spent most of this week in Eagle Pass on a short mission trip and know we are stressed out about the things that needed to be done two weeks ago.  Oh well, the older we get the easier it is for us to say "just deal with it and move on - life will continue". 
   One thing that sure grew while we were gone is our special baby goats.  Last winter, we took one of our better does to a clinic to have some embryo transfer work done.  Simply, she was encouraged to produce multipe embryos and when she ovulated she was bred to a buck of our choosing (in this case Wide Load, the 2008 ABGA National champion). Aafter breeding, her embryos were flushed and examined.  Our doe produced 11 fertilized embryos, those embryos were then placed in surrogate does, two at a time.  After 45 days the recipients were sonagramed and we had 5 does that were still pregnant.  At birthing time one doe had a single kid from a two embryo set, one doe had twins of which one died shortly after birth, two of the remaining three does had twins and the final doe had a single.  So out of the pairing of our doe to Wide Load, we have 7 live kids.  All the kids have very good structure but two of them are super nice for us.  Have you ever seen a neice or nephew after a period of time and you went "wow, look at how you have grown!"  Well, that is how it was after just a week of missing our goat kids.
    The Blackberries are doing pretty good too!  Most everyone that has come out has been able to get all they wanted.  To be honest, some of the berries have a tart taste to them right now.  I am not sure why but I think it has to do with the dry conditions.  We are watering but the single drip irrigation line that we use probably covers no more than 30% of the overall root system.  The berries that are PLUMP taste good, the berries that are tight are tart.  Make sure each little pocket (druplet) on the berry is nice and plump for the best tasting berry.  It looks like berry supply will be deminishing as we go through next week.
    The Maze is great.  I know it is hot, but folks have been having fun in spite of the heat.  The last few days I have been leaving some of the sprinklers on inside of the maze --- pedestrians have really enjoyed that.  The sprinklers we use do not put out big water droplets so noone gets soaked by them, instead it is a gentle rain - just enough to cool you off.  We can only run a few runs of the sprinklers at the same time so it is easy to get in and out of the wetting pattern.   This Springs Maze is one of the most challenging we have done.  You can quit any time you want but to find all the lakes might take 1.5 to 2 hours easy.
  
   I think we are going to stay open through the July 4th weekend and then close for the summer at the end of Sunday the 5th.  It will take a week for me to get the Maze ready to cut down so if you wanted to go through the Maze shortly before the 9th give us a call and we can work something out. 

Friday June 19, 2009 ----  gimminy crickets! time is flying and I feel like I am stuck in the sand watching it go by.  We have Blackberries!  The Blackberry plants have really turned on the gas and are putting out some very nice berries right now.  It looks to me like the rest of this week and all of next week will be the very best Blackberry picking we will have in 2009. 
   Texas the Maze is looking very good.  The grass has been growing and is now over my head in much of the state.  The taller the grass gets, the harder the maze becomes.
   The farm will stay open until all the Blackberries are picked.  We don't have a definate date yet but it looks like we will close the Spring season down somewhere around July 6 - 12.
   
Friday June 12, 2009 ---  Wow, we had a rock'em sock'em storm come through last night.  The Blackberries are OK but the maze is going to need a little work.   So today we are going to have plenty of Blackberries to pick.  The Maze is closed for repair today and should be back open tomorrow for pedestrians.

Friday June 5, 2009 ----- The 'Kiowa' variety of Blackberries have finally begun to produce berries, and nice, juicy berries they are.  It actually looks like we might have a decent supply of Blackberries over the next three or four weeks.  I think Blackberry picking will be pretty good Saturday morning and right at opening on Sunday.  It just depends on the amount of pickers as to how long the ripe berries last.  Remember - Blackberries DO NOT ripen after being picked, so it is very important to get them as black as possible when picking.  The plumper the little pockets on the berry - the sweeter it will be.
  Onions - still pulling.  This is the first time I have ever been able to grow big onions, and I like it.  The red onions are not so big but the 1015Y white onions are getting some very nice size to them.
  Strawberries - small but good.   We still have enough berries to pick that I feel bad for not taking better care of the plants this late in the season.  We have three fields of Strawberries one of which we have started taking the plants out, the second has berries but is a bit weedy and the third is where you will want to pick.  Don't worry, dad will point you in the right direction when you get here.
   Are you ready for the Maze?  We are going to open it up for pedestrians this weekend!  Much of the field is at least chest high.  So far two school groups have gone through the maze and noone has been able to find all the lakes (the kids were on the small side though).  It might help if you locate the lakes on your map before you come out, they are:  Salt, Big, Mclellan, Coyote, Stamford, Athens, Buchanan, Livingston, Corpus Christi, Delta and Fayette. 

Saturday May 30, 2009 ---- Well now, these warm afternoons are making me awful sleepy.  I think we should go buy a hundred or so hammocks and put them down under the pecan trees.  That way everyone can come out and pick in the morning (when the picking is best) and take a quick nap before heading back home.  Come to think of it, I probably had a much better attitude back in kindergarten when we took that little afternoon nap.  Do you remember that?  I can remember those little red and blue mats that we would fold out to lay on.
    Strawberries ---- still hanging on (to my amazement), folks picked some pretty nice boxes today.  The berries are on the small side but still as tasty as ever.  While we still are picking some berries, overall they are dwindling quickly.  The berries will get a little harder to find with each passing day.  Before long we will begin to remove the plants and begin preparations for next years crop.
    Onions ---- getting bigger.  We still have onions to dig and even some yellow crookneck Squash to pick.
    Blackberries ---- come early in the morning.  Thursday morning is the best time to pick.  We have been picking a few of the 'Brazos' survivors, and very few of the first 'Kiowa' to ripen.  The  problem at the moment is that we just don't have enough ripening to satisfy more than a few pickers.  I think toward the end of next week more 'Kiowa' will begin to ripen and the picking will be much better.  Our new plants have been planted and even starting to put on some new growth.  We planted a row of thornless Blackberries between two rows of Onions, I asked mom if anyone would pull any of the little blackberry plants thinking they were an onion. "Oh no, surely not" she replied.  Well, this time mom was wrong.  I just found five little blackberry plants pulled out of the ground.  Whether or not someone thought they were an onion or just a kid wondering what it was - I do not know. 
    Are you ready for "Lakes across Texas"?  The texas maze is almost ready.  All the paths have been cut and the signs representing the lakes have been placed.  Right now it is about 5 feet tall in much of texas (south east texas is giving me fits - it is only about 2.5 feet tall) and we are watering it diligently.  Just a little taller and we will open her up -- maybe by next weekend?  I am anxious to get somebody in there so we can find out how hard it is going to be.  I do know that it seemed like it took me forever to cut the pathways.  I caught a glimpse of a raccoon the other day in there, just like a varmit - he did not even pay to go through it!

Monday May 25, 2009 ---- Sorry but those Blackberries have been picked - for this weekend, we do still have Strawberries.

Thursday May 21, 2009 ---- Memorial Weekend Update: yes, we will be open -- yes, we have onions to pull, -- yes, we have a decent amount of Strawberries to pick, -- hmmm, eeeee, urgggh, no, yes, noyss we have some Blackberries to pick, maybe - depends on persons picking before you.
   Strawberries --- the cooler weather has been nice and we are seeing some decent berries come out of the field.  The berries are not huge, maybe on the medium to small side but they taste just as good as they ever did.
   Onions are getting bigger.
   Blackberries --- if the person picking before you decides to load up, then you might not have alot to pick from.  Without a doubt, I can say that the biggest, bestest, mostest berries will be down low (close to the ground) where no one ever seems to look.  The variety that is ripening now is the one that was damaged the most by a late freeze.  In other words, the amount of ripe berries available to pick at this time is not very large so it is very hard to tell you if we will have them available when you get here.  I think production will increase dramatically somewhere around the 5th of June.
   'Texas' Maze --- not ready yet, we need about two more weeks.  The theme this year will be "Lakes across Texas" so you will be looking for these Texas lakes: Salt, Big, Mclellan, Coyote, Stamford, Athens, Buchanan, Livingston, Corpus Christi, Delta and Fayette.   On Saturday the 16th we had a front blow in a dropped about an inch of rain.  With the rain came a very strong wind that laid the grass over on its' side.  Thankfully it has stood back up now and is quickly trying to reach the sky.  For the first couple of years we had the maze by the Strawberry patch, last year we moved the maze across the road and had to rotate Texas a little so it would fit in the field.  Do you know in both locations east texas gave me a problem.  It always seems like I am trying to figure out why the grass in east texas does not grow as well as the rest of the state. 

Thursday May 14, 2009 ---- that loud screeching sound you hear is the brakes being put on our Strawberry season.  While we are still picking some nice strawberries, they are getting harder and harder to find.  Strawberry plants do not like hot weather, which is all we have gotten lately.  In late March you could pick a pound of berries in two minutes, now it will take 15.  The key to finding the berries at this time of the year is to "go low and go slow" as dad likes to say.  The plants are large enough now to hide the berries so you have to move those leaves around and get under the leaf canopy to find the berries.  I think we will have a scattered amount of Strawberries for another week or two. 
  Taters have been dug but we still have Onions!
 Blackberries ------ our early variety "Brazos" was hit the hardest by the late freeze.  We would normally be picking it now but instead we have a berry here and one way over there - not enough ripe berries to make a pie.  Our main variety is "Kiowa" and while the very first blooms were frozen, many of the later ones survived.  It looks to me like we will have Blackberries to pick somewhere around June 5 - 10.
  The 'Texas' Maze is growing!! We have been desperately trying to get some water on it because of these bloomin hot windy days we have been having.  I will be cutting the paths soon and singing to it on a daily basis (you know, to get it to grow faster).  Perhaps by the first of June 'Texas' will be ready for pedestrians!

Sunday evening May 10, 2009 --- Yikes! we had a tater diggin run over the weekend.  I thought we would have potatoes to dig for another week or two but once again, I was wrong (this seems to be a recurring troublesome occurrence).  I had forgotten that our farm savvy customers knew just how good those fresh New Potatoes are.   In a mere two weekends the tater patch has been dug.  I guess a low yield on the plants this year did not help either.  Regardless, I hope you were able to harvest some fresh potatoes this year, if not - next year is right around the corner!
    We are still pulling onions and we are happy with the gain in size they have had over just the last two weeks.  Still no huge onions, but at least a respectable baseball size.  I do think we will have onions to pull for at least a week or two.
    Strawberries - we sure picked alot over the weekend and there is still more to come.  I am afraid this heat is going to shut them down so don't wait too long if you still need some this year. 
    Blackberries - Well, we went ahead and planted another 1000 plants.  Hopefully they will grow off well and we can make some production on them next year.  As far as this years harvest - I think it will be the first of June before we have any quantity to pick.  I am guessing around June 5 - 10 will be the start of what we have to harvest and they will continue through the remainder of June.      

Tuesday May 05, 2009 ----- Still Pickin, Diggin and Pullin.  We have slowed down on our own personal jam picking because the Strawberries are not quite as thick as the were over the weekend.  But don't get me wrong, the berry picking is still pretty good overall (we just like to stand in one spot and fill up a basket).  Dad said a fellow picked two of the prettiest boxes of berries he has seen all season (hmmm, I don't know about that).  Thursday morning should be good picking and since our crowds have slowed down, I would think we will have Strawberries all the way through the weekend.
    Half the tater patch has been dug, I would expect to have taters at least through May 17.  I had a skillet full the other night, boy were they good ---- I couldn't believe it when our teenage daughter said "all we are having is Potatoes and Onions?".
   Speaking of Onions, still plenty to pull.  Most of the big ones have been pulled, but they are growing by the minute so maybe they will be big by the time you get here. 

Friday May 01, 2009 ------  It's 'Jam Pickin' time again in the Strawberry patch.  A couple of slow past days and what do you know?  there are lots of nice berries to pick.  We have been picking berries to put in our homemade jam all day today, so this means it is pretty good picking.  This will be some of the better picking in the last part of the Strawberry season, the berries are medium to large again and the taste is very good.  I think we will have plenty of strawberries for everyone to pick both Saturday and Sunday.
   Taters!!!! we have started digging those wonderful red new potatoes now.  Do you know how to dig taters?  if not, let me refresh you, simply take the spade (fork) that we have out in the potato patch and place it about 6 inches from a plant, push it into the soil with your foot - push down on the handle with one hand while pulling the plant up with the other - shake the plant vigorously and there are your potatoes.  Grab them taters and discard the plant to the side of the row - now, there might still be a hide away tater in the soil under where the plant was - so take your spade and fluff up that soil to see if one is hiding.  
   Onions!!! we are pulling red and white onions as well.  You can see the size of the bulb from above the plant so only pull the ones you are after.  Very few of our onions are super large, most are in the medium to small size (little smaller than a baseball and down) but boy are they sure good eating.
   Blackberries --- the jury is still out.  Right after the freeze of April 5th,  I was optimistically thinking we only lost about 10% of the crop.  A week later when cutting buds I found the damage was much worse than I originally thought, maybe 90% loss.  Now that more buds have emerged and we are finding a few immature berries, I think we might have only lost half the crop.  So what does this mean? I have no idea what to tell you.  My best guess is that we are going to have a few berries toward the 20th of this month, then maybe a lull of three weeks, and then a splash of berries starting about June 10th through the end of June.   After two years of poor blackberry crops (and spending more money on them than they are making) I have come to question our decision to plant another 1000 Blackberry plants.  Oh well, over the next few days we should be planting a few more blackberry plants.  My family frowns on gambling but I have found that I am the biggest gambler of all ---- spend the money now, put it in the ground and bet it will make a crop and pay off later. 

Wednesday April 29, 2009  -----  that 20% turned into a 100% chance of rain, we had almost 2 inches over the past few days.  The clouds are beginning to break now and the wind has started blowing.  No doubt there will be some muddy spots but for the most part the picking should be great over the next few days.  Very few berries were picked Monday and Tuesday so it looks like to me there will be an ample supply of berries to pick over the next few days.

Saturday morn, April 25, 2009 ----  there is only a 20% chance of rain today but we have already had one little shower and the skies are sure overcast.  Check the radar before coming out today.  We had 7 tenths of rain yesterday morn so the fields are a little wet.  We have dry spots and muddy spots in the fields, guess where the berries are?  Muddy spots are where the action is.  I am going to downgrade the picking status to "fair picking" for the rest of today and tomorrow.  The berries are out there, just takes a little longer to find them.  Give yourself about 35 minutes to pick a box of berries. 

Tuesday April 21, 2009 -----  I think I incorrectly blamed the "5 hour energy drink" for my fatigue last week.  After further review, I have decided my muscle soreness could be caused by the new excercise I developed to correspond with the testing of our new electric fence - I call it the "farmer with big boots running and jumping while wildly flailing the arms in the air and yelling noises only intellible by alien life forms" excercise.  It must be a good workout because I am still sore from just one session.  Feel free to come out and I will teach it to you ---- I can see it now, I will be the Richard Simmons of the Farming world -------- hmmmm, as I think about that ........ maybe we will just stick to playing in the dirt.
    Speaking of Strawberries,  the weather is beautiful and so are the berries.  Production has been just right of late, not too many but just enough for everyone to find plenty.   We put up about 2,500 pounds of strawberries in order to make the popsicles, jam, lemonade, smoothies and ice cream so we of course only want to pick our berries when we can get a lot of berries in a little bit of time.  Lets call that time, 'Jam Pickin' time.  Our first 'jam pickin' time was in late March,  we are almost to the next one.  The picking is good right now and the berries have a wonderful taste but we are not quite to the point where the berries just seem to jump in your basket.  We have plenty of berries for everyone to pick, I do not think you will need to worry about us 'running out' of ripe berries this week / weekend.

 Wednesday April 15, 2009 ---- Whew, I drank one of those little 5 hour energy bottles (on the advice of our local convenience store clerk) yesterday -- I did not notice any extra energy in the evening but I sure am dragging today.  No, I did not need the extra energy to do our taxes - just feed the goats and finish a new electric fence.  Speaking of the fence -- have you ever been so angry you are at a loss for words?  Well...... I spent twice as long as I thought on said electric fence, finally got the electricity to work, let the goats out and what do you think happened?  If you said, "the goats must have ran to the fence and immediately experienced an event that abruptly changed their mind causing them to do a one hundred eighty degree turn sending them scurring away in the opposite direction ------- you would be wrong.  Now, you can use your imagination concerning the following course of events ---- what ever you imagined, you were probably right.   To make matters worse, I had to regain my composure in order to attend a missions meeting at church.  I suppose the church adjustment helped because upon my return we were able to get the fence working - kinda, and feed the goats back into the corral.  In my infinite wisdom, I only ran the fence on two sides of the 10 acre peach block (the third side has a barb wire fence on it) with the intention of completing the fourth side today.  Afterall, the goats do have 80 acres of country that has not been grazed in six months.  So, I ask you again, what do you think happened when I let the goats out this morning?  No they did not go through the fence today - they just ran all the way down to the end and came in the far side!  Now I know why I missed last weeks strawberry production targets ----- cuz I aint no smarter than a darn goat! 
  Speaking of Strawberries, which I am sure you wanted to hear about instead of my fence building escapades,  production is picking up!  The berries are not as large as they once were but they are certainly ever bit as sweet.  I just finished sloooowly walking through the fields and I am happy with what I saw in the Strawberry blocks.  Tomorrow (Thursday) should be good picking, if it does rain tomorrow and Friday as forecast then Saturday will be great picking.  Overall I think strawberry production is going to pick up through the next few weeks.  The plants have a good many blooms on them now that should translate to berries all the way though mid May (assuming the temperatures do not repeatedly go into the mid 90's for highs and upper 70's for lows).  The minute we see a lack of ripe Strawberries to pick we will post it here, otherwise we should have plenty for you to pick.
   I forgot to mention, 'Texas' has been planted.  We planted it on the 11th, we should have a five foot maze ready in 45 days so lets shoot for opening up the Spring 09 Texas Maze the first of June.  Every day it will grow taller so the farther into June we go - the higher the grass will be.  disclaimer: it all depends on the weather!    

5 o'clock Friday afternoon April 10th, 2009 ----- Well, what do I know? Apparently not much!  I was working across the street on the Texas Maze today and saw lots and lots of cars pull into the farm - all I could do is shake my head in despair thinking everyone was getting green berries and going to be upset with us.  So here I came about 3pm walking up to dad (who is running the 'welcome' center) and begrudgingly ask "well when did we run out of berries?".  He didn't even say anything, he just smiled and pointed at a lady walking out with a box of nice RED berries.  It was then that a warm grin washed over me as I let out a big sigh of relief.  The feeling didn't last long though cause dad followed the 'point' with "I thought YOU said we were going to run out?".  Well after further investigation I have found there are ripe berries out there, you just have to hunt for them.  And, judging from the looks of the berries I think quite a few will ripen for tomorrows picking as well.  So if I did not scare you off, tomorrow morning might be some decent picking.  We won't be at the stage where you can just sit in one spot and load up but if you have a couple of kids to help pick - you should be able to find a box of berries to go home with.  Don't forget we will have Horse Rides, Face Painting and Hot dogs tomorrow as well. 

Thursday afternoon April 9th, 2009 ----  Here I sit in almost a sweat from being outside and report that we lost more blackberry blooms to tuesday mornings freeze than I originally thought.  I am a bit surprised that even many of the tight unopened blooms were killed.  Well, that is farming - certainly nothing we can do about it now.  Hopefully it is not as bad as I think but I estimate a 75% loss on the Blackberries.  Maybe that means the remaining 25% will be so big they will make up for the loss.  Geesh, better get ready for those five pound Blackberries - how are we going to keep them off the ground?
  Thank goodness we had the Strawberries covered up.  Oh, you need an update for Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday.  Come out to enjoy mother nature, ride the horses, get your face painted, eat that wonderful homemade Ice Cream (or Popsicle, or Smoothie, or Split), but NOT to pick a lot of Strawberries.  We will not have enough ripe berries to handle even Fridays customers.  Believe me, this hurts me as much as you but in order to be honest with you I have to say "we don't have many ripe berries to pick right now".  Oh sure, the first customers of the day will probably pick as much as 200 pounds of ripe berries but that will clean us out for another day.  There are more Strawberries coming but I think they are two weeks out.

  Tuesday evening April 7th, 2009 ----- It is just not right to get a freeze this late in the Spring!  but, it could have been much much worse.  Luckily we had almost all the Strawberries covered up - not much damage to them.  The Blackberries had some early blossoms that were killed.  There are still a lot of blooms yet to open that I think are OK.  We should still have Blackberries this year, they will just be a little later in ripening (late May).  The Potatoes were covered so not much damage there.  Like we said - it could have been much worse.  
    Strawberries ----- this is a big weekend coming up (Easter) and here is the scoop.  I do not think we will have many ripe berries Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon.  Last week was incredible picking and it seems as though the plants want to take a little break before putting out more berries.  Remember, if you will visualize the Strawberry production graph it would resemble at least two waves.  Last week we were at the top of the first wave, this weekend we will be at the bottom of the curve between the two waves.  There will still be some berries to pick but you will need to be here in the morning (before 10am) to get them.  Don't expect to find many ripe berries in the afternoon.  I will try to update the Fresh News Thursday evening to let you know how the weekend looks.
   The freeze has caused me to lose two days! (one to put out covers and one to take them up) argh!  We did get some Tomato beds built.  What did you say?  Yes, it is a little late to plant Tomatoes but then again - it froze last night.  We are desperately trying to get the Maze ground turned up and ready to plant.  Did you say something else?  Yes (you are quite the farmer), we are behind the eight ball -- we need to get it planted very quickly in order for it to be ready by the first of June.  Can't plow up Texas though until we kick the goats out of that field, which can't happen until we get that electric fence around the Peach tree field, which hasn't happened cause of a stinkin freeze we had to prepare for!   

Tuesday evening March 31, 2009 ----  Holy Cow!! we have some of the best picking we have ever had right now.  The plants have decided to ripen all their berries at the same time.  The strawberry production graph over the course of a season is a series of three waves -- we are definitely at the top of the first wave.  I think we will have a let down next week but the jury is still out as to how much of a let down it will be.  If you were thinking about coming out and you had to choose between this week or next ---- definitely choose this week for an abundance of berries to pick.
   The Blackberries are beginning to bloom --- we sure would like a good Blackberry season.
   The Potatoes were nipped just a bit in last weekends frost event.  Don't worry, they will grow out of it.
   The Onions are growning wildly.  If they get a little more size on them we might start pulling a few - maybe by mid April.
   The Peach trees are starting to grow, so far we only have a few trees that are not coming out.  The deer have worked over two or three --- argghh!
   The animals are doing fine.  We have 113 goat kids on the ground right now with 29 more does due over the next few months.  Jenny the donkey is pregnant - no idea when she is due.  Start think of a name so when it comes you can name it.  The name has to start with a J, mom is Jenny - dad is Jack, brother is JJ, sister is Jammy, baby is ?.  The Horses are happy we are open.  They are starved for attention in the off season and love the affection (and treats) the get in the 'on' season.

Wednesday evening, March 25, 2009 ----- We survived the storm, did you?  We saw on the news that a lot of folks had some hefty hail damage from the storm that rolled through this afternoon.  If you were one on the unlucky ones that had hail damage - we're sorry for you.  It is still a bit early to tell, but the plants and berries appear to have received only minimal damage.  In fact, the only problem you are going to have picking berries right now is stopping.  This weekend will be one of those few times when the picking and the weather are both fantastic. 

Monday evening, March 23, 2007 ---- They're back! The Strawberry plants have already recovered from last weeks huge Spring Break turnout and I am happy to say we now have lots of ripe berries to choose from.  I just saw a lady with a full box of gorgeous berries, when asked if she had trouble finding them she smiled and said "Not in the least!!".  I think the Strawberry picking will be wonderful all the way through this week and upcoming weekend.  Hope to see you soon.

Thursday evening March 19, 2009 ---- We are so lucky to have the best pickers in the world.  The weather has been outstanding and with a Spring Break crowd in town ---- we need a few days for more berries to ripen.  Friday will not be a good day to pick ripe berries.  We will be open and everyone is welcome to come out but do not expect to pick many ripe strawberries.  We have lots of Homemade Ice Cream, Lemonade and popsicles but not many ripe berries ----- at the moment.  By next Thursday I think our tune will change and we will be begging everyone to come pick.  Honestly,  there are a multitude of green berries on the plants waiting to ripen they just need a little time.    

Thursday morn March 19, 2009 ----  Woaaa, I would not come out to pick today.  We were closed yesterday and that certainly helped some berries ripen up but not enough ripened for todays pickers.   Here I sit in a quandry ----- there are lots and lots of berries that are almost ripe, they just need a day or so to reach lusciousness.   If I tell everyone to come, then they will be dissapointed because there is not a bunch of ripe berries.  Lets say we tell folks not to come and lots do anyway because it is Spring Break and the weather is nice --- then they pick berries that are almost ripe which in turn causes fewer berries to be ripe when the folks that waited for incredibleness come out.  Very shortly supply will overwhelm demand but that won't happen until next week.
  So, to make a long story short.  Come out today or tomorrow IF you wanted to get the kids out, pet the goats and horses enjoy mother nature and pick a few berries while here.  Don't come out today or tomorrow IF you want to pick alot of really nice berries.   The season is just starting and there is an incredible amount of berries yet to come so don't give up on us.

Wednesday March 18, 2009 ----- The Strawberries were picked pretty hard the past two days, it is good that we are closed today to give some berries a chance to ripen up by Thursday.  We will have ripe berries Thursday morning but I can't tell yet how they will be beyond that.  For sure we have ripe berries first thing each morning because many will ripen overnight.  We also need to remember that it is still early in the season for us,  very shortly there will be so more berries on the plants than you can shake a stick at.
   I am happy with the way the fields have recovered from last weeks rain.  It was muddy last Monday, a little muddy yesterday and I think it will be just right Thursday on.

Friday March 13, 2009 ---- Yep, the skies have opened and we are floatin.  The moon was once again in a crescent shape laying on its back last week (or was it the week before?).  My neighbor said it meant the 'bowl' was filling with water and about to spill out.  I suppose that moon did fill up and now runneth over.  We had 4.1 inches as of yesterday morning. With a little rain last night and a good bit today, I am sure we are up to at least 5 or more.  Believe it or not, the fields are holding up well through it all.  Yesterday I picked some berries and while I did not sink up to my ankles in mud, I did slip and slide a lot.  By the looks of the radar, Friday afternoon and Saturday should be mostly rain free ---- if this happens the fields will be in fairly good shape by Sunday afternoon, for sure by next Monday.  Please be aware: there will still be a few muddy spots for the kids to find!
   One thing for sure ----- the Strawberry quantity and quality look fantastic!  Next week should be phenomenal with beautiful weather and ripe strawberries galore.
    Fruit trees have all been planted and now watered well - grow baby grow.
    Blackberry canes are starting to break bud.  We hope this years crop is much better than last.
    Onions are growing well, it should be a good crop.
    Potatoe plants have emerged from the ground and look good at the moment.  I love those new potatoes, hope they turn out well.
    Goats are still dropping babies.  We have put a few in the pen at the patch for kids to pet.  Don't worry if you see the little kid goats running around 
      outside of the pen - they are small enough right now to walk right through the fence.  They will go back to momma when they get hungry.
    Horses and Donkeys are sooooo excited we have opened, finally they are getting treats again. 
We should be building Tomato beds and turning up ground for the Maze next week, in between eating Strawberries of course.

Tuesday March 3rd, 2009 ----  Nothing like a few 80 degree days to get the Strawberries rollin.  Last week we were in the 80's, had to cover them all up for a freeze over last weekend and now have uncovered the plants to find lots of ripe berries.  The berries are coming on much faster than I expected so we are going to open up for the season.  Of the ten strawberry seasons we have had in Marble Falls this will be one of the earliest Opening dates.  The crop is looking good and we are very pleased with the quality of the berries. 
   In the field we are frantically trying to get the Peach trees planted (I know, we are running behind schedule ---- the ground is so hard and dry that we are having a hard time digging a hole deeper than 2 inches!), Strawberries covered/uncovered, berries picked, goats delivered (48 kids on the ground so far, hoping for another 80 to come), and beds built for upcoming Tomato planting. 

Thursday February 26, 2009 ----  Well we have ate all the berries we can hold so we are going to open up for a couple of days and allow customer picking.  The berries are not super abundant right now but they are worth the little extra effort finding them.  The first berries of the season are my favorite to pick because they are very big, juicy and a refreshing sensation to my tastebuds.  It looks like in about a week and a half the berry production will increase dramatically.  I am very happy with the way the plants look right now --- barring any weather disasters, a tremendous berry season looks very possible.  Varieties ---- ask! and feel free to sample the various varieties.  We have Sweet Charlie, Festival, Camarosa and Chandler.  The "Festival" have a distinctly different taste so try a few before picking to make sure you want this type.  The other varieties taste very similar to me and I am partial to Chandler (which accounts for 65 of the 75,000 plants).
       

Tuesday February 17, 2009 ------ We have a plethora (I accidentally used plethora the other day and liked it, so now I am looking for any excuse to use it ---- sounded good didn't it?) of things to do.  I am somewhat in a pickle, the strawberries are coming on quickly but if I tell my wife we should be opening in about 3 weeks she is going to go nuts.  Yesterday I picked a berry the size of my hand, I sent her a picture and waited for a return call acknowledging that she got it --- I didn't need a call because I could hear her screaming from across the road.  I have to admit, I too am running around like a chicken with it's head cut off (I have not actually cut a chickens head off but I have heard it is quite a sight).  We are picking a few of the early berries right now, only enough to give away as gifts and to freeze for jelly.  I imagine out of the 5 acres of plants we will get about 5 boxes of berries and then it will be another week before more are ready.  Not near enough to open the farm with.
   It is very hard to tell but I think we are looking to open around March 13.  Maybe a couple of days sooner if the weather stays warm. Wow, our tenth Strawberry season is almost upon us.
   Better go, gotta get these berries picked so we can start working on kidding pens -- we have 50 does that should be dropping kids over the next two or three weeks. 

Wednesday February 11, 2009 ----  I guess the moon did fill up because we had a little shower last night.  My neighbor said half an inch, I bought a new rain gauge yesterday but forgot to put it out before the rain.  Along with the rain came substantial wind gusts, today we went to Lexington to put back on two frost covers that blew off - that was a chore! 
    Strawberries ---- in fine shape!  our earliest varieties (Sweet Charlie and Festival) are blooming well now so that means, if we can keep them from freezing, we should be picking them by early March.  Mom picked three boxes the other day and sure did like the way they looked.  So, if mom said they looked good, all is well.
    Blackberries ---- dormant as they can be.  Hopefully this years crop well be much better than last years failure.  The canes look good, we will just have to wait and see how they turn out.
    Peaches ---- our maiden planting is going well.  Still no trees in the ground but the field to be planted is taking shape
    Onions ---- transplant shock is over and they are actively growing --- grow baby grow.
    Potatoes ----- most all have been planted - we increased the Potatoe patch a little, it seems I am still having trouble stealing enough for French Fries.
    Goats ---- we have 11 kids now out of 5 does.  So far no birthing problems ---knock on wood.  The does that have kidded up to this point are the ones that snuck into the field with the Bucks (yep - same ole same ole --- females causing all the problems).  The majority should start dropping babies next week.  Those little kid goats are the funniest thing to watch.

Monday February 2, 2009    All the neighbors are going to be very mad at me but I just can't help it.  We have been waiting and waiting and waaaaaiiiitting for a good shower but it just has not come.  Since we have 750 fruit trees on the way we just have to get that ground prepared, and that means it will be a dust bowl around here when we start turning it up.  Luckily we really don't need to cultivate it deeply, just enough to level the field out.  I pushed most of the Mesquite trees out last winter and we have been working on the cactus throughout the year.  Just like most gardeners, we could'nt stop with the 500 trees we had prepared for so now we have a few more Mesquites to push and a little more ground to work up.  We are excited about putting in the trees, 600 Peaches, 50 Plums, 50 Nectarines and 50 Figs and hope they work out well.  We have some prior experience growing fruit trees which is why we did not plant them the first year we started this farm.  While we certainly like to grow fruit trees they have a tendency to frequently lose their crop to a late winter/spring freeze.  Because of the inconsistency in production, we were afraid to count on them to make a crop for our livelihood.  Therefore we planted Strawberries, which we can protect from freezes most of the time, for our main crop - Blackberries (which are fairly consistent) for our secondary crop and now Peaches to add to the package (and not to forget about the ever growing Pumpkin season).  In our book, diversification and the ability to irrigate, is the only way to stay in the farming business.  As you can see, all of our decisions here are based upon the eradic and inconsistent weather.

Speaking of weather, I had an old timer tell me of a new 'old wife's tale', wanna hear?  Recently the moon was in a stage I don't remember seeing (or paying attention to).  It was a crecent but it was laying on its back creating a bowl shape.  According to the old timer this means the 'bowl' is full of water and when it begins to tip over then we will start getting some rain.  Then, add to that, we were at the auction barn the other day and a group of real nice goats came in for sale.  The auctioneer (seemed like an old guy) told us that we better buy those goats because it was going to come a big rain in the first part of February and we were going to have lots of grass.  Reckon either one of those fellows was right?  Guess we will have to wait and see (by the way - we did not buy those goats).

Mom picked a big ole juicy Strawberry today and said it was the best one she has ever had --- this year.  It was mighty good (she picked a second for me), too bad those were the only two berries on 30,000 plants.  Don't worry, more are on their way ----- Mid March is when we are shooting to open. 

Tuesday January 27, 2009   I just found out how you tell if it has been dry or not ----- if you get excited over a heavy drizzle then you know it has not rained in awhile.  It has been drizzling sporadically here the last two days and the moisture is certainly welcome.  The cold stiff wind is not welcome though! This is great weather to make the animals sick.  I am sure we will have lots of runny goat noses over the next few days.
   Last Wed. we pulled up the covers because we did not want the plants to get too hot (in the 80's here Thurs and Fri), then a front blew in Sat and dropped the temps significantly.  We were afraid the clouds would lift Sat night and the temps would drop through the floor, so Sat afternoon the wife and kid and I deployed 6 of the 14 covers over the earliest varieties.  Today another front has come in with cold wind and drizzle.  We went ahead and put out another 3 covers just for a little extra protection on a few more plants.  We have 3 blocks of berries this year, two of them are fully covered now.  After this cold spell is over it will probably warm up for a week or so --- after that we will cover all three blocks up with each cold weather event.
    We now have all the onions planted and half of the potatoes.  Hopefully in the next couple of days we will get the remaining potatoes in the ground.  Since we increased the onion patch we decided to add a few more potatoes as well. 

Saturday January 17, 2009 ----- Things are picking up around here now, lazy boy time is over (ahh shucks!!!).  We are planting onions now,  a few more than expected.  Seems we made a little counting mistake when ordering plants --- no problem, I am sure we will be able to sell all TWELVE THOUSAND!  Ohhh, aren't you just now ready for those scrumptious delectable round bundles of --------- onion?  Actually that is not too far over what we wanted and since things always work out for the best - we will probably need that many.
   We put out most of the frost covers on the Strawberries earlier in the week, not because we needed to but just to get our rythem down so there is no surprises when we really need to get them deployed.  The plants are looking good,  hopefully they will start blooming in about 2 to 3 weeks for a early March opening.  I picked a nice red one the other day.  At first it was good to see a beautiful red berry in the midst of a cold brown winter but then panic struck as I realized picking season is quickly approaching.   I guess we will take the covers back up next week to let the plants air out a little.
   The seed potatoes have arrived and have been delivered to Dad for cutting --- he is the best cutter around and the price of his labor is right!.  He will start in on the 500 pounds next week so we can start planting around the first of Feb.  That might be a little early but oh well.
    We have our first 5 kid goats, from two does, on the ground now.  They were a bit of a surprise as we are not expecting until mid to late February.  We had the bucks separated from the does (I read that I am supposed to use Buck/Doe instead of my normal Billy/Nanny --- I guess our goats are more upper class?!) for most of last Fall but somehow these does slipped in with the bucks a little early.  I am sure it was the does fault because surely our bucks wouldn't cross the fence (isn't it always the female who causes the problem?).  I can see it now, the bucks were just mind'n their own business when poof - out of nowhere these girls show up and start causing problems.  The funny thing is that those does must have done their business and jumped back on their side of the fence because I can't remember them getting out.  Anyway, the rest of the herd shouldn't start kidding until February 20th (according to the date we let the bucks in).  The first five have been healthy and problem free,  we are hoping for another 120 that turn out as healthy as the first ones. 
   Hope to see you in a few months!

Monday January 5, 2009 ---- Slow down!  our slow time is quickly vanishing and I am not ready for it to end.  The past two weeks have been great because we have done just about nothing!  and I am not ashamed to say that I have been a complete sloth lately.
Besides feeding the animals, not much has been done on the farm.  I guess last week there were two days where the weather was so nice that we just had to get out and do something.  The wife went exploring in the creek and I put some sprinklers out on a acre or so (it has been terribly dry here so anywhere we want something to grow we have to get water out on it).
Today we are having some very welcome rain.  It does not look like we have gotten much rain so far but ANY is much appreciated at this point.  Because of the rain we are here in the office trying to catch up on paperwork accumulated since the last rain (which was so long ago that the pile is pretty high).
The Strawberry plants are looking good.  A few blooms have been popping out only to get nipped by a freeze.  I suppose toward the end of this month we will start putting out covers to protect the new blooms from the cold weather.  If all goes well we will be picking those wonderful Strawberries by mid March!  Geesh, now that I said that my blood pressure has risen and I am getting that nervously excited feeling of "Yikes, here come the berries and we have a lot to do to get ready!"

We wish you all a Happy New Year and look very forward to seeing you in a few months.