Opening Day!

The time has finally come, the berries are ready for picking!!  The farm will be open Monday, June 13 from 7:30 until 12:00 noon.

There are lots of sweet, juicy berries so be sure to come out and get your supply!

Some thing new this year.......the farm now has almost 400 new blueberry plants.  It will be a few years before they are producing enough for customer picking but we're excited that we'll have more berries for everyone.

Hope to see you soon!

Opening Soon

Things are looking good at the farm for another good year of berry picking.  We're not sure when opening day will be......sometime mid June.  We'll post here, and on Facebook, when opening day will be.

We are saddened by the effects of the recent tornado in Joplin.  Our sympathy and prayers go out to all who were impacted by it.  I've seen the overwhelming numbers of volunteers and pray that those needing help are getting it.  We live in a great community.  I was among volunteers on Monday and Tuesday and can say that I was so encouraged by the cooperative, amiable attitudes I saw in everyone.  In the midst of such chaos the organizers have done a great job getting so many people where they need to be. I love Missouri and I'm so proud to be part of a great community like Joplin!

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

I thought I'd start off our recipe blogging with a recipe everyone will love!
It's fall and that's a perfect time for baking something that will fill your house with delicious smells.


We are going to be posting two or three recipes each month as we cook our way through the Heritage Family Farms Simply Delicious Blueberry Recipes book.
Hope you enjoy making at least a few of these delicious dishes.

BLUEBERRY CINNAMON ROLLS
Southern Living

1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 ounce dry yeast (I used 2 tsp.)
1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 1/4 cups flour, divided
1 egg
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine (softened)
`/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons milk

Directions:
Combine 1/4 cup milk, sugar, salt, and 3 T. butter in a saucepan: heat until butter melts.
Cool to 105 degrees or so.  See note below:

Let me interject something here about baking with yeast.  You can use a thermometer and make sure the temperature is right but that's too much trouble for me so I have always followed the advice I got from a veteran bread maker some 20 years ago.  "The liquid for yeast should be the same temperature you would bathe an infant in.  If it's too hot or cold for a baby then it's too hot or cold for yeast".  I've been baking homemade bread every week for almost 20 years so trust me on this, it works. 

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand 5 minutes until foamy.
Stir in milk mixture, 1 1/2 cups flour, and the egg;  beat on medium speed.
Stir in remaining 3/4 cup flour.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic ( about 8
minutes.)  Or you can use your Bosh type mixer and save your arms! (I don't usually flour the counter as I don't want to add more flour to my dough.  I butter the counter and knead the dough that way)

Place in a well greased bowl, turn dough over so the top is greased.
Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees or so) You can warm up your oven for a few minutes and put the bowl in if the room is too cold.  Just don't leave the oven on very long.
Let rise until almost double in bulk...about 1 hour.

Punch dough down; turn out onto lightly floured surface. 

Roll dough into 12x8 inch rectangle; spread with 2 T. butter. (You can use more if, like me, you believe that butter makes the world a better place to live in!  I used more!)
Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle mixture over dough.
Sprinkle with blueberries.  (If you use frozen blueberries you need to run them under warm water to thaw them out.  Then you need to drain them on a paper towel so most of the moisture is removed. This way there won't be excess moisture to cause soggy spots in your rolls.)
Roll dough beginning at the long edge.
Cut into 1 inch slices; place slices cut side down in 8x8 pan.
Brush tops with 1 T. melted butter (or a little more)
Cover and let rise in a warm place.  About 40 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Combine powdered sugar and milk and stir well.
Drizzle over warm rolls.

Now, remove a roll from the pan and put a slather of butter on top (you know why!), get a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy!  These really were very nice cinnamon rolls and the addition of blueberries makes them extra special.

Let me know how you like them.

CLOSED for the season......

We are sorry to disappoint those of you who were planning to come out later this week and pick but your picking experience would be highly unpleasant.

Right now there are an abundance of critters flocking to get the remaining berries.

This is a Green June Beetle and NO that is not my hand holding it.  On my  "100 Creatures that I Adore" list these rank at number 879.  I understand that they have their place in the food chain but it bothers me that when it comes to blueberries I have to compete with them.  But apparently blueberries are one of their favorite foods because they are all over the bushes.  I hold the belief that sucking blueberry juice intoxicates these beetles because when they try to fly away, which they do as soon as you disturb the branches, they fly like Otis Campbell is at the controls.  This means that they will usually hit you in the face, head, legs or feet.  They may end up in your hair or worse yet, your shirt!  All of these factors make picking less than fun.  They have relatives that have joined them.

The Japanese beetles have landed as well. 

Did you know that in your home garden you can hand pick these beetles (wear gloves because they feel creepy when you touch them) into a bucket of water.  If you check your plants early in the morning or late in the evening you'll find them lounging on the edges of the leaves.  They are lazy at these times of day and won't fly away when you reach for them.  After you get them in the water you can feed them to your chickens, if you have any, and they'll thank you profusely! If not, just dump them out and squish them!

We want to thank each of you who came out to the farm this year.  It's always fun getting to know our customers.  We appreciate each of you and look forward to seeing you next year.

We do have a limited number of frozen berries that we'll sell on a first come basis.  Call 540-0866 to reserve some and get an appointment for pick up. 

In the meantime we are going to be making some blueberry recipes and blogging about it here so check in when you can and see what's cookin'.  We'll keep you up-to-date on what's happening at the farm as well.

Have a great summer!

CLOSED Monday through..........

The farm will be closed until later next week.  We are thinking of opening Thursday evening or Friday morning or both or.......

We'll let you know so check back.

Thanks for your patience..........

OPEN Saturday

The farm will be open Saturday, July 17 from 7:30 until 12 noon.

There are still a lot of nice berries on the field that need to find a good home!  It will take you longer to fill a bucket but you'll be rewarded with nice, sweet blueberries.  Today, six of us picked over 50 pounds in a little less than 2 hours!

For those of you who might not have noticed..........it's HOT outside!  So, bring plenty of water to stay hydrated.

We will be open later in the week next week so you still have time to get more berries.  Stay tuned and we'll let you know when we'll be open after tomorrow.

OPEN Friday

The farm will be open Friday, July 16 from 7:30 until 12 noon. 

The berries are ripening well in this heat so brave the temps and come out and get the last of the season's berries.

OPEN Thursday

The farm will be open Thursday July 15 from 5-8pm.

This will be the last week for blueberries so if you have been putting off coming out to the farm now is the time!
The Lateblue's have plenty to pick.

Hope to see you there.

OPEN Wednesday

The farm will be open Wednesday, July 14 from 7:30 until 12 noon.

The two rows of Lateblues have lots of berries and there are still a good number of berries on the 8 rows of Bluecrop as well.

The season is winding down so don't dely in getting out to the farm to get your berries!

OPEN Tuesday

The farm will be OPEN Tuesday, July 13 from 5-8pm.

The season is coming to a close so be sure to get your yearly supply of berries before it's all over!

OPEN Monday

The farm will be open Monday, July 12 from 7:30 until 12 noon so if you need more berries come out and get a supply!  The berries are smaller now and not as plentiful but you can still fill your bucket with some nice berries.

Open Saturday

There are still berries so if you haven't gotten all you need yet come out Saturday, July 10 and get your supply!  The farm will be open from 7:30 until 12 noon.

OPEN Friday

The rain has moved out so the farm will be open today from 7:30 until 12 noon.

The cooler temps and cloud cover will make picking very pleasant so come out and enjoy a morning of picking blueberries!

Closed

Looks like rain again for this evening so the farm won't be open.

We'll try again tomorrow morning.

Picking Thursday evening

The farm will be open Thursday, July 8 from 5-8pm...... if it's not raining.

NOTE: The LateBlue variety is ready for picking so if you like those now is the time to come out and get your supply.

Raining on our parade!

It looks like the stormy weather is going to stick around so the farm will be CLOSED this evening. 

If the weather is good tomorrow morning we will open at 7:30.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

DID YOU KNOW......

That July is National Blueberry Month?

It's true.  For the entire month of July blueberries are the celebrated fruit in the U.S.A. 

It just so happens that the farm still has a good supply of blueberries to help you enjoy this unique event .

Come out Tuesday evening July 6 from 5-8pm and enjoy National Blueberry Month by picking your own blueberries.

Then you can take them home and turn them into something like this.....

Blueberry cheesecake!  Could there be a better way to celebrate National Blueberry Month?

Tuesday Evening picking

There are still berries to be picked so plan to come out Tuesday, July 6 from 5-8pm and get some while supplies last!

Happy 4th of July!!

We hope you all have a safe, fun 4th of July.

The farm will be open Monday, July 5 from 7:30 until 12 noon.  Unless it rains.

Hope to see you there.

LOST AND FOUND:  Two customers left containers at the farm today.  We'll hold them for you if you want to come back for them.

CLOSED Friday

The farm will be closed Friday, July 2 to give the field time to ripen berries for Saturday picking!  Plan to come out Saturday and get some fresh blueberries for your Fourth of July celebration!
We'll be open Saturday from 7:30 until 12 noon.