2008 SEASON

FARM UPDATES

Thursday, July 3, 2008	Blueberry picking for the remainder of our 2008 Blueberry season will be slim to next to none. Those that came the first of this week averaged 1 to 2 pounds of Blueberries in over an hour. And, it will only get worse as we approach our closing day, Sunday, July 6^th, at noon. So, if you decide to come to our farm between today and Sunday, don’t expect much. The Blueberries will be small and far between. Normally, we would have more Blueberries this time of the year. But, this year we had a huge number of Blueberry customers. And, they came early and picked a lot. With all that out of the way, I hope that you have a very happy 4^th of July holiday weekend. I will post my final update for the season on Monday.
Monday, June 30, 2008	The rains that we are receiving are helping the remaining Blueberries get ripe. However, there are just not that many of them. In an hour you might get between 2 and 3 pounds of Blueberries. It appears that we will have enough ripe Blueberries to last through Sunday. Such that, the last day of our 2008 Blueberry season will be Sunday, July 6^th. We will be open from Monday, June 30^th through Saturday, July 5^th from 7am to 9pm. And, on Sunday, July 6^th, we will be open from 7am to Noon. After which, our Blueberry field will be closed until early June 2009. This means that we will be open July 4^th from 7am to 9pm. We just might have enough Blueberries for your Red, White, and Blue festivities. I will still post an update this Thursday.
Thursday, June 26, 2008	Through Sunday, Blueberry picking will be slightly better than it was the first of this week. On average, you should get between 3 and 4 pounds of Blueberries. You might get more if you use our ropes, get inside the Blueberry bushes, and bring more pickers. Here’s another Blueberry picking tip. When searching for your Blueberries, should you come upon a Blueberry bush that has a good number of Blueberries, don’t yell, “jackpot”. Doing so may cause other pickers to come to your newly discovered Blueberry bush. So, be very quiet. We did get a rain. However, it wasn’t much, only .2 in. I won’t know how this will affect the Blueberries until next week. So, I’ll post my next update on Monday. One other note, Slow Food is having their 7^th annual Blueberry Bash on Sunday, June 29^th, at the El Meson restaurant. Ten Houston chefs will be using our blueberries to create some very delicious creations. You can get more information at www.elmeson.com.
Monday, June 23, 2008	Blueberry picking through Wednesday will be very slim. The Blueberry field needs several days for more Blueberries to get ripe. There will no longer be any easy picking or large Blueberries available, for now, or the remainder our Blueberry season. Should you come today through Wednesday, you might be able to pick 2 to 3 pounds of Blueberries. Thursday through Saturday, Blueberry picking might improve. The more Blueberry pickers you bring with you; the better the odds that you will get more Blueberries. So, bring the whole family. With out any rain, it looks like our Blueberry season will last only two more weeks. I will post my next update on Thursday.
Thursday, June 19, 2008	Since my last update, even though we haven’t received a rain like everyone else, surprisingly, there are more ripe Blueberries. Such that, picking will once again be fairly good through Sunday. However, it will require you to be more aggressive in your picking technique. You will literally need to get inside the Blueberry bush to find your ripe Blueberries. In other words, you need to become “one” with the bush. If you are willing to do this, you should be able to get between 4 and 6 pounds of Blueberries. One suggestion that we would offer is that use one of our ropes to tie our bucket around your neck. This frees up your hands, so that you are able to hold up the branches and pick your Blueberries at the same time. As for as the Blueberry season is concerned, it should last for another two weeks. It could go longer, if we were to get a rain. I will post my next update on Monday. However, if it turns out to be like last weekend, we will probably be picked out on Monday.
Monday, June 16, 2008	The fairly good quantity of ripe Blueberries that we had for this past weekend, were picked fairly good. Once again, it leaves us for the first part of this week with more pink than blue Blueberries. Such that, should you come to our farm the first part of the week, picking will require you to work a little harder to find your ripe Blueberries. By Thursday, there should be a lot more ripe Blueberries. There are still a lot of Blueberries needing to get ripe. With it being so dry, the ripening process will take longer. I guess one could say, “A watched Blueberry never gets ripe”. But they will get ripe. It’s just a matter of when. So, I’ll post my next update on Thursday.
Thursday, June 12, 2008	Blueberry picking through Sunday should be fairly good. More Blueberries are getting ripe; such that, we are able to keep up with demand. Conditions here at the farm will greatly improve if we ever get that much needed rain. Until then, expect to get between 4 and 6 pounds of Blueberries per visit. At this time, we anticipate that our Blueberry season will continue for at least three more weeks and could go longer. I will post my next update on Monday.
Monday, June 8, 2008	Beginning this week and for the remainder of our Blueberry season, we will be picking the later ripening Blueberry varieties i.e. Tifblue, Brightwell, Powder Blue and Garden Blue. These varieties produce a medium size Blueberry and when ripe have a very unique flavor. These varieties are at the beginning of their ripening stage. Such that in order for you to fill you bucket, you will need to go to several bushes. But, by this weekend, there should be a lot more ripe Blueberries. I will post an update on Thursday.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008	Well, after a few days, more Blueberries are getting ripe. However, at this time, it is getting difficult for us to meet demand. Those that came Monday and Tuesday averaged about 6 to 8 pounds of Blueberries per person. This average should continue through the weekend. But, if last weekend is an indicator for this weekend, it could be less. I anticipate that a lot of Blueberry pickers will be coming. So, my advice is for you to try to come to our farm more than once, in order for you to get your year’s supply of Blueberries. It appears that in a week there may be a whole lot more ripe Blueberries. But, with it being so dry, it may take a little longer. I will post an update on Monday.
Monday, June 02, 2008	After this past weekend, picking will not be good until the end of the week. We had a lot of Blueberry pickers this weekend. They picked a whole lot, leaving fewer ripe Blueberries. What we need now is a few more days to let more Blueberries get ripe. If you come the first part of this week, it may take you longer to fill your bucket. But, by this weekend, it should be fairly good, for picking. On Wednesday, I will give you an update on how the Blueberries look for the remainder of the week.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008	We got a much needed rain last night. However, the strong winds that we received, knocked off a lot of the Blueberries. But, there are still plenty left, and more to get ripe. Such that this weekend looks like a good time to come. For those of you that have children in school or you teachers still teaching until June 6^th and are worried that there will not be any big Blueberries left when you can come to the farm, not to worry. Our early ripening Blueberries i.e. Premier, which are our largest Blueberry, are going to last for at least two more weeks! Right now it looks like the whole month of June is going to be real good for Blueberry picking. Those of you that filled out reminder cards last year, you should receive your card this week.
Saturday, May 24, 2008	Our 2008 Blueberry season has officially begun! We are anticipating the season lasting to mid July. Premier, Climax, and Becky Blue varieties are now ripening. These varieties are our largest Blueberries. And, it looks like there will be a lot of them to last two to three weeks. After that, Tifblue will be getting ripe. There are lots of them as well. And, they should last through mid July. Right now it looks like it is going to be a really good Blueberry season. Since my last update, we have received a lot of hot weather, causing more Blueberries to get ripe. So, don’t wait. It looks like there is going to be plenty of Blueberries for you to pick. Bear in mind we rotate the picking area daily. Such that the day you come to pick, you will be picking in a different area of the Blueberry field from where they were picking the day before. On your trip to our farm, you will notice that they are widening FM1314. Such that they are clearing areas where I put my Blueberry signs. In order to avoid my signs being destroyed, I have put up “yard signs” on telephone poles along the way. So, you will need to look very carefully for my signs leading up to the turn off into the Bennette Estates subdivision. If you get lost don’t panic, just give us a call and we will help you get here.
Friday, May 16, 2008	After a thorough look over the Blueberry field, it appears that there will be enough ripe Blueberries to allow us to open up the Blueberry field, Saturday, May 24, 2008! Bear in mind that if you come the opening weekend, there may be more pink than blue Blueberries. So, it would not hurt to perhaps wait a week. But I know how you Blueberry lovers are, and to wait another week would be hard to do. Once we open up on Saturday, May 24, 2008, we will be open 7am to 9pm, 7 days a week. When you do come, you will notice that I have greatly improved the parking area. So, hopefully, you will find a close parking space.
Saturday, April 19, 2008	Greetings from Blueberry farm. We have great news!!! It Looks like we are going to have a lot of Blueberries this season. Also, for the 8^th year in a row the price of our Blueberries will be $1.50 a pound ! At this time, we don’t know the exact opening date of our farm. As we get closer to the end of May, we will have a better idea. Please keep checking this page for updates.