Current Days and Hours
Please note our new spring hours for 2025.
Just check our website, FB, Google, or call us at (269) 244-5690 for days and hours as needed. If you need to get something when we are closed, please call…….and we will try to set up a time to meet you.
Closed Monday
10 to 2 Tuesday
Closed Wednesday
9 to 4 Thursday
9 to 6 Friday
9 to 4 Saturday
9 to 2 Sunday |
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| Our asparagus and rhubarb season is rolling along despite the swings in the weather.
We loved seeing so many families out this past weekend, we saw lots of beautiful flowers, gifts and baked goods leaving for Mom’s and teachers. We still have a nice selection of teacher appreciation gifts to choose from – it’s never not too late to show appreciation to those who help inspire and educate our children!
The bakery is busy making pies, cookies, and muffins, and making donuts on Saturdays and Sundays. Moe’s popular homemade Strombolis will return starting next week; watch our newsletter and FB for updates. |
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Asparagus and Rhubarb
Both rhubarb and asparagus are peaking and we should have a steady supply for hopefully about 3 more weeks. This season always flies by, so make sure to enjoy it while it is here!
If you are trying to get larger quantities, please check our FB page, website or call us before you come out. We are also happy to take orders for larger quantities for freezing or preserving. Call us at (269-244-5690) and we will call you when it is ready! Buying 10 lbs. or more is discounted.
Check out the article at the end of this newsletter on the asparagus industry in Michigan. |
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What is on the Market
Here’s what we will have:
- Fresh picked asparagus and rhubarb
- Lettuces and produce from Bankson Lake Farms
- Hanging flower baskets (limited supply)
- Lettuce bowls and potted mini-tomatoes
- Assorted fresh baked goods including ‘take and bake’ fruit pies
- Local maple products, honey, jams, jellies and salsas, Jake’s meats
- Alcohol products – hard ciders, wines, spirits
- Nice selection of springtime gifts made by our local artisans
- Teacher Appreciation gifts
Our lettuce bowls and mini tomato plants are now ready. We grow these for folks who like to have them on their patios or in their yards. There is nothing better than picking a fresh leaf of lettuce for your hamburger or popping a mini tomato in your mouth!
The mini tomatoes are both grape and cherry of different colors, the same as the ones you get here at the market during the summer. |
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| Luscious, fresh-picked rhubarb! |
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Bakery
We are back to baking and have assorted baked goods.
- Assorted “take and bake” fruit pies, including seasonal fresh rhubarb pies (frozen)
- Assorted cookies and muffins
- Cinnamon rolls and cinnamon bread – take and thaw
- Donuts – Saturdays and Sundays in buttermilk, blueberry, and cherry flavors
Watch for the return of Moe’s strombolis starting next week!
Busy baking muffins! |
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Grocery
We offer select grocery products like salad dressing, jam, jelly, salsa, fresh eggs, cheese, crackers, chips, meats, dog treats, and more. Every year in early spring, Beth attends the Lipari Food show in Detroit to seek out unique products that we feel our customers will like. We focus on finding new companies located in Michigan, to support Michigan-grown and Michigan-made! It’s always a fun day, and everything was personally sampled by Beth! Find these as you visit us.
This week we got a supply Michigan made popcorn and pita chips. |
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| We now carry more flavors of Olipop sodas. |
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| Our MichiGummies candy, a gummy shaped in the state of Michigan, are just too cute! |
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| This year we attended the Show with Fruit Acres Farm Market from Coloma, Michigan. Each year this becomes a great networking event as so many other farms attend, and we can compare notes on what customers are looking for at farms. If you are on I-94 East going toward Lake Michigan, stop at their farm market which is right off Exit 39 in Coloma, to pick up great fruits and vegetables and Michigan grocery items!
Below see Beth and Karey Molter… |
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| Teacher Appreciation Gifts |
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| The school year is coming to a close, and this is the time to recognize the individuals your child sees almost daily, whether in school, church, sports, and other activities. Our teachers, classroom aides, school staff, bus drivers, and others work quietly behind the scenes, many year-round, to help educate and inspire their students.
Show your appreciation with a heartfelt thank you and a gift. We have a nice selection of the perfect gift items such as teacher tote bags, honey, jams, and maple syrup, freshly made bakery treats, and many unique creations from our local artisans. Stop by and take a look! |
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Ideas for Rhubarb
You may have wondered, why is rhubarb considered a vegetable?
Botanically speaking, rhubarb is a vegetable. It doesn’t have any seeds and does not come from the flowering part of the plant. Instead, it’s the plant’s edible stem, making it a vegetable. However, once it leaves the garden and enters the kitchen it is most often prepared like a fruit.
For ideas on using rhubarb and asparagus this week, check out the Rhubarb and Asparagus recipes posted on our website. |
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| Asparagus Industry in Michigan |
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(Adapted from FreshPlaza.com)
The asparagus growing in Michigan – the top asparagus-growing state in the U.S. – benefits largely from its proximity to Lake Michigan. “Most of the asparagus is grown in the Western part of the state, and asparagus likes sandy, loam soil,” says Trish Taylor, marketing manager for Riveridge Produce Marketing, Inc. There is a bit grown in southern Michigan as well, and production starts in southwest Michigan. “With the lake, the climate lends to natural irrigation/rain. That’s the difference between Michigan and imported asparagus. Other countries grow in more desert-like conditions where they provide irrigation, and some areas grow a crop twice a year. Here, asparagus is the first commercial crop of the season.”
How Michigan harvests. While Michigan only produces asparagus in the spring (the state still hand-snaps its product at its natural breaking point rather than having farm workers walk fields and cut down asparagus), imports stretch the season to year-round supply now.
Here at CLO, we snap ours at its natural breaking point. We have been using the same style “asparagus picker” for over 50 years. The first one was built by our father in the late 60s. It’s basically a mechanized “go-cart” carrying three, seated workers and their picking lugs. The driver and crew pick 3 rows at a time. |
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Planting
Monday we finally got everything planted in our fields for the year, only waiting for our pepper plants to grow a bit more.
What a relief to have that task behind us – now begins the on-going care of them: keeping watch out for insects and rabbits (especially this year!), weeds, and ensuring they have enough water. It’s a repetitive cycle of work. |
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In the Greenhouse
We are finally getting a chance to get caught up in the greenhouse and hoop house. Look how far behind we got on keeping our tomato plants pruned! |
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Wow, the cucumbers are loving this heat – some may be ready this weekend.  |
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Herb Garden
Plus, our attention is turning to getting our herb garden planted followed by the flower beds. Patience please as we wait for the herbs to grow before we can let you start picking them!
Below are the green basil, we also planted red. The chives which come back every year are now blooming! |
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Thank you for your continued support and for buying local.
Everyone at Corey Lake Orchards wishes you a happy May!
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