07/28/10

We are a family owned and operated farm in the heart of Cattaraugus County.  Established in 1996 by Keith and Nadyne Litchfield, we have expanded from just strawberries (though that is still our main focus).  The farm now grows sweet corn, raspberries, blueberries and provides a variety of other fruits and vegetables. 

Remember to stop by the stand or call to find out what we have available that week.

5608 Humphrey Road

Great Valley, NY   14741

(716) 945-5221

Email us:  gvberrypatch@gmail.com

7-28-10

We have been very busy and I'm just now catching up with website.  My apologies to all of you who check faithfully! 

Blueberries are going strong and picking is great!  Raspberries are still available and Keith, Pam and I have been making plans to expand that patch for next year.  There is a huge interest in u-pick raspberries and what seemed like a good sized raspberry patch has trouble keeping up with the demand!  We are definitely going to address that in our plans for next season!

Keith said last night that we should be able to get some corn for dinner tonite - remember, there are only 2 of us home most of the time now so that only means 1/2 dozen ears!  But that signals the start of corn season for us!  We may have corn on the stand as early as this weekend - stop by and see.

As always, we have maple syrup, maple sugar candy and honey on the stand.  Lots of fresh picked raspberries are ready and waiting for those who want to grab-and-go!  They make a great "travel snack!"  You will also find cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, onions, garlic, and dill on the stand.  I will have lots of tomatoes if the sight of the green tomatoes now on the plants is any indicator.  The tomatoes on my "gauge" plant are beginning their color change ever so slowly but once one turns, the others follow suit in a hurry!  (My "gauge" plant is the big one I can see from the door of the fruit stand that kind of flopped over, making it really easy to see the progress of the tomatoes on it.)  Pam found a couple of ripe jalapenos and a banana pepper, so those will find there way to the stand soon.

7-7-10

Wow!  What a series of hot days!  We had to shut down to let the raspberries ripen and it couldn't have come at a better time!  It coincided with the beginning of the heat wave and also let me catch up on the paperwork and laundry.  Now the heat is still with us and it is time to get down to the business of picking peas and raspberries.  I have decided to sidestep the heat (hopefully!) and open today and tomorrow at 4PM and close at the regular time of 8PM.  Friday remains to be a "game day decision."  I just hope we get the promised rain (or threatened, depending on your point of view!)  Keith has been irrigating nightly but not the corn doesn't have drip or overhead irrigation.  The corn is benefiting from the heat and humidity (glad something is!) but really loves a good thunder and lightning storm - something about the ozone. 

I'm beginning to get some beautiful zucchini and summer squash from the garden.  Tonite's dinner includes a casserole made with both.  Can't wait!  I've managed to can a few beets and freeze some servings of beet greens, Swiss chard and peas.  Last night I made a Bacon Ranch Pea Salad, a recipe I found on the Internet.  It was wonderful!  Don't tell Keith but I finished the last of it for breakfast this morning.  Believe me, there will be packages of peas in the freezer earmarked for that salad!

7-3-10

Strawberry season has officially ended!  The fields are now closed and Keith will begin renovations to ready the fields for next year.  It was a good season - not long enough by some standards, but a very busy time!  Vegetables are coming ripe and the corn continues to get taller!  The next couple of days are supposed to hit near record temperatures which the corn loves - now if we could add a couple of thunder and lightning storms, all would be well! 

6-27-10

Strawberry season is nearing its end.  Today we shut down the early field and began renovations.  We have cordoned off the field and posted "Do Not Enter" signs as the field has been sprayed in preperation for next year.  As such, however, we ask families with children to keep an eye on their children so that they do not climb under the fence.

We still have two fields of mid-season berries as well as one field of late berries available for picking.  However, as we near the end, the berries are getting smaller.  The plus, though, is that these smaller berries are highly recommended for jam and jelly by our veteran jam makers as they tend to be sweeter than the larger late berries.  In our late field we are testing a new variety of strawberry called "Record".  These berries are large and round, but as they are new, we are not quite sure whether they are as good for jams as the mid-season berries.  If any of you make jam with these new berries, please let us know how it has turned out so we know whether it is worth it to plant more of them.  

Peas are coming on very quickly now and just need some rain before they will be ready to pick.  Check back around Wednesday, June 30th, for a more accurate day for the opening of U-pick peas. 

Our raspberry crop is coming on early as well.  Friday we were able to get the first two pints off of them and today we got another two pints off of one row.  With the heat and forecasted rain, these should not be far off either.  Check back sometime around July 4th for a more accurate opening date.

Blueberries are coming along steadily.  We are beginning to see some color change in our earliest variety.  They should be available for picking in mid-late-July.  Check back then for a more accurate date. 

Beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash are all beginning to blossom.  Barring any disasters, they should all be available on the stand in the next month or so.  Spinach, lettuce and beet greens are still available upon request.  Our herbs are beginning to take off as well.  Dill, basil, sage, cilantro and parsley should be available upon request by mid-July.  Potatoes will be available within the next week as well. 

For all those who missed the strawberry season this year, or who can't wait for next year, we are happy to announce that, barring winter dieback, we will have 3 1/2 acres of strawberries available for picking next year.  That is almost double what was available this year.  Some of the new varieties to look forward to include:  Honeoye, Jewel, Clancy and Northeasters.  A secret for any of you home winemakers:  Honeoye is a variety nearby commercial wineries use to make their strawberry wines with.  This is a mid-season berry and should be available about a week into the 2011 season.  

6-2-10

We received some sorely needed rain Monday and the plants have responded.  We use overhead irrigation on the strawberries, corn (until it gets too tall) and peas; drip irrigation on the blueberries, raspberries, pumpkins, the squashes, tomatoes, beans - actually most of the vegetables.  The hose with the nozzle on shower setting works for everything else.  However, there is no substitute for Mother Nature's watering system!

The strawberries are far ahead of last year when we opened on the 21st of June.  Our earliest opening date was June 11th, back when we were still on Klawitter Road.  This year, there is the possibility that we will set a new "earliest opening date!"  We may be open as early as this weekend but definitely between the 10th and the 15th.  We have been picking "onesie-twosies" as we scout the fields.  They are so sweet this year!  The berries look to be plentiful this year, although we did lose some of the early ones to the freezes in late April-early May.

So all you canners and freezers!  Stock up on your supplies of sugar and pectin!  Get your jars ready!  Make sure you have your biscuits ready!  Strawberry season will be here before you know it!

5-27-10

  We are beginning to enjoy the results of our labors!  We had several meals with spinach; cooked or salads, I love my spinach!  Yesterday, I pulled 5 radishes and cleaned them for dinner.  They were small but oh so good!  The smaller they are, the spicier they are! 

  I'm continuing to thin the rhubarb.  We've had one pie and now enough for another in the freezer.  I will continue to experiment with the picking.  The goal is to be able to have some on the stand with the strawberries.  I found an article on rhubarb on one of my go-to recipe sites, allrecipes.com.  It began by describing the 'pie plant.'  I was suddenly in my Grandma's kitchen way back when!  I hadn't heard that term in years!  She had a huge plant growing on the side of the garage and always had rhubarb-something cooking, baking - you name it!

  The beets look good and we planted 2 rows of green beans a week ago.  The first tomato plants are in Saylor's caps and more plants will follow.

  The strawberries are looking good in spite of the cold nights we had earlier.  We did lose some of the early blossoms to the freezes but the plants continue to put out new blossoms.  We are on track for the usual opening range:  between the 15th and the 20th of June.  Keep checking back as we get closer to that time frame.

5/1/10

   A new season is almost upon us!  We started planting about a month ago and are beginning to see the first signs of growth!  The onions and garlic have taken off in the past few weeks and are looking very good!  Radishes, beets, spinach, and lettuce are all beginning to grow as well.  After the interest shown last year in the few rhubarb plants we put in next to the fruit stand, we decided to try our hand and planted 12 more of them.  I went out yesterday and got our first official harvest off of one of last year's plants so we are really excited to see what your responses will be!

   Inside we've started a bit of everything else: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower.  Hopefully we will have better luck with our tomatoes this year!  We're planning on planting them in two locations and hopefully outsmarting the insects and disease! 

   We're just finishing up pruning our last row of raspberries and have only a few rows of blueberries left to do.  The raspberries are beginning to leaf out and are looking very good.  We have one new row this year that we hope to pick from, as well as the rows that were available last year.  We've also planted two more rows of red raspberries as well as one row of blackberries.  These new plantings should be ready for harvesting next year. 

   Our one early variety of strawberries continues to have identity crises.  Last October we walked the fields and discovered it had decided to become a fall bearing crop as well.  Now, they already have blossoms!  We've been irrigating them the past few nights to protect them from the very cold temperatures.