When We are Open
Reminder on our days and hours: Open 9 am to 6 pm every day, including holidays. Closed Tuesdays. To call us with an order or a question: 269-244-5690.
Happenings on the Farm and Strawberry Update
Your rain dances must have worked! After weeks of no rain and lots of irrigation, we seem to be having rain nearly every day. And a lot more expected this weekend! While the rain is good for the crops in general, it is accelerating the end of strawberry season. We are not sure how much if any we will be able to pick this weekend, and the quality of the berries after the rain may be questionable. The U-pick strawberries are done for the year.
Thanks to all of you who enjoyed our berries this season. It was a tough strawberry season with the May frost and freeze, extreme heat, drought, and now too much rain. We know that some of you wanted flats and we apologize that we had to discontinue flat sales and taking orders so early in the season. Strawberry season is a short one – and this season was shorter than normal.
Here’s a few pictures that sum up how special strawberry season was here this year with all of you!
On The Market
Along with Summer arriving this week, the summer vegetables also arrived. It’s nice to enjoy those first bites of summer! To ensure you get veggies into your meals, we are having a special on zucchini — buy 2 at $1.50 each and get 1 free. The zucchini are some of the loveliest we have had in years!
Greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers. Tomatoes are sold pre-packed in a 2-pound box. See clerk for smaller amounts.
Herbs. All of the herbs are ready to pick in the herb garden. So bring your recipes and add fresh herbs to your cooking.
Yellow Squash and Zucchini. We are picking these summer staples now. See several recipes for using yellow squash.
Cauliflower. Is available in several colors from traditional white to purple.
Kale/ Broccoli/ Swiss Chard/ Kohlrabi. If you haven’t, please try a Kohlrabi, they are quite delightful to use on a tray of cut vegetables, with dip or not!
Bankson Lake Farms Produce. Dan will be bringing us fresh lettuce mix, mushrooms, green onions, radishes, and garlic scapes this weekend.
Grocery Items. Assortment of local meat, cheese, yogurt, eggs, jam, jelly, salsa, maple syrup, honey, chips, tortilla chips, ice cream and more.
Sunday, June 27 is Great American Picnic Day! We have breads, brats, cheese, tomatoes, onions, chips, and other goodies to make your picnic fare. Even if the rain moves you indoors!
Sweet and Tart Cherries
We will not have any U-Pick for either of these this year as we have about 10% of a crop left due to the spring frost/freeze. We will try to bring in cherries from other local farms when available but since most of southwest Michigan lost their cherries, we will have to wait until they are ready closer to Traverse City.
Blueberries
The blueberries are almost ripe. We will be opening our field for u-pick blueberries sometime next week. Check back with us later for pricing and details.
At the beginning of July, we hope to have already picked blueberries from Brookside Farms in Paw Paw. They have been our blueberry supplier for a number of years.
Bakery
Donuts. We make fresh donuts on Saturday and Sunday – the current flavors are Buttermilk, Cherry, and Blueberry. We are also making our homemade strawberry shortcakes to take with your strawberries, and yes, there is vanilla ice cream in the freezer and whipped cream in the market fridge.
Fruit Pies. This year our pies are frozen “take and bake” only; we no longer offer “ready to eat” pies. Having them frozen allows us to offer a full variety of pies every day the market is open, not just on weekends. If you are driving far, bring a cooler or insulated freezer bag. The pies are simple to bake, take about an hour, ready to bake when you need them, and give your house a mouthwatering aroma! So far customers are liking this better. The pies are hot right out of your oven, plus extra pies can be tucked in the freezer for that time when you need a dessert! Baking directions are included on each pie.
Pie Varieties: Apple, Dutch Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Cherry Berry, Peach, Rhubarb, and Strawberry-Rhubarb.
Slushies. With the heat of summer already here, enjoy a nice cold slushie! We have Strawberry, Mango, Strawberry-Mango mix, or Cider.
Baked Goods from Yoder’s
We are offering additional homemade baked goods from Yoder’s Country Store.
- Each day the market is open – cookies and breads.
- Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays only – Amish fry pies and cinnamon rolls
Amish Fry Pies (pocket-sized, half circle pie): Apple, Black Raspberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Lemon, Peach, Red Raspberry, Strawberry-Rhubarb
Breads (pre-sliced, ready to use!): Dill, English Muffin, Italian Cheese, Jalapeno Cheddar, Multigrain, Raisin Cinnamon, and Sourdough
Cinnamon Rolls with cream cheese icing
Cookies: Chocolate Chip, Molasses, Oatmeal Raisin, Oatmeal Sandwich, Peanut Butter, Sugar Cookies, and Whoopi Pies
Spirits, Wine, and Hard Ciders
We have a nice selection of alcohol produced on the farm.
- Fruit brandy in 375ml and 750ml sizes
- 2 sweet wines – Double Cherry and Peach and Honey. Look for several drier wines coming soon!
- Hard cider in 12-ounce bottles. You can purchase them individually or mix and match them in a discounted 4- or 6-pack.
Strawberry Hard Cider. Enjoy one of our cold strawberry hard ciders this weekend! This is a semi-dry fruity cider that we know you will love!
Visit us at local Farmer’s Markets
We participate in two local farmer’s markets. Please stop by and check out our items. See schedules and addresses for both locations. \https://coreylakeorchards.
COVID-19 Guidelines
We are following operational guidance from the CDC as well as State and local health rules. We are an open-air market and masks are optional though we encourage you to wear them if you have not been vaccinated. Our staff has been vaccinated and are not required to wear masks. Please note that we also follow food safety rules that regulate how produce is harvested and packaged.
We look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you for shopping local.
From everyone at Corey Lake Orchards