June 19, 2025
It feels like summer might finally be here! After a stretch of cool, wet weather, we're eagerly anticipating those perfect days in the mid-to-upper 70s. While we've talked about droughts in previous years, a little break from the rain would be wonderful right now. We know we can't control Mother Nature, but it's fun to hope!
With a few dry days in the forecast, we're tackling some major projects this week.
Baling the Winter Rye
One of our big tasks is baling our winter rye. This rye was planted last fall and offers many benefits, including helping with soil erosion over the winter. To bale it, we need consistent dry weather so we can cut, rake, bale, and then store it away for the fall.
Once baled, these become the familiar straw bales – those beautiful golden bales you see at our Garden Centers starting in September for your fall decorating! We also bale them into large round bales to protect our strawberry plants in the fall.
Exciting News: Vegetable Stands Open June 20th!
Get ready! The moment you've been waiting for is almost here: Our Vegetable Stands open this Friday, June 20th!
We've set up all the stands and are thrilled to kick off another season. This is the official start of "locally grown" season, and we can't wait to welcome you back.
You can expect to find freshly harvested slicing cucumbers, chub cucumbers, grape tomatoes, asparagus, rhubarb, zucchini, and hopefully a few strawberries. We'll also be bringing in popular staples like black diamond watermelon, sweet corn, peaches, cantaloupe, blueberries, and cherries until our local crops are ready.
While some of our own items are a bit delayed due to cooler temperatures, be sure to watch our sweet corn update video for the latest!
"When will strawberries be ready?"
We're getting this question daily, and it's a bit complicated this year.
We plan to start picking June-bearing strawberries this Friday, June 20th, but we anticipate the supply to be limited. These plants took a significant hit this past winter due to a lack of snowpack and fluctuating cold temperatures. A warm spell caused some to come out of dormancy early, only for a deep freeze to unfortunately kill quite a few of them off.
But don't get discouraged! We grow two types of strawberry plants:
- June-bearing: Typically, ready in June and into early July. (Limited supply for now).
- Day-neutrals: Grown in our high-tunnels, these usually kick into production the second week of July. They look fantastic!
While June will be light, our day-neutral crop promises ample berries from mid-July onward!
We'll do our best to provide as many berries as possible over the next few weeks, but please understand supplies will be limited until mid-July. If you are looking to make jam, we recommend waiting until mid-July, as we anticipate having more berries at that time.
U-Pick Strawberries On Hold for 2025
Unfortunately, due to the significant loss of plants this year, we will not be able to offer our U-Pick strawberry experience. Even just last week (when we filmed the video above) we were holding out hope, bit the weather simply hasn't cooperated. We don't want to disappoint anyone by having you come out and find no berries to pick.
Our goal is to bring U-Pick back next year! We've already started replanting the lost plants, and are hopeful Mother Nature will be kinder this winter so we can welcome you back for U-Pick in June of 2026.
Looking Ahead
While the strawberry situation is a bit of a bummer, it's all part of farming. We understand that not everything can be perfect or abundant all the time, but we're dedicated to bringing you the highest quality produce every day. We're so excited for the season ahead, and even if a few things are slightly behind due to the cooler start, just be patient – they are definitely coming!
In the next two weeks, keep an eye out for: fresh lettuce, kohlrabi, kale, green beans, peas, hopefully slicing tomatoes, and garlic scapes.
