It’s a Double Header Holiday Weekend – U-Pick Apples and a Sunflower Experience! 🌻 8-30-23

And starting this weekend we will have pumpkin and apple cider donuts, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin muffins, and apples that have the sweetness and crunch of the traditional Fall varieties.

Other activities include a special yoga class in the sunflower field on Friday morning and a sunflower painting class on Sunday afternoon.  See details below for the various activities.

Check our website homepage for updates or call us.  (269) 244-5690.

Looking Ahead ….

• Fall apples – starting early September (already picked and u-pick)
• Apple cider – usually starting mid-September
• Grapes – typically starting late September (already picked and u-pick)
• Blueberries, peaches, and sweet corn – This could be the last weekend for your favorites so stock up and make sure to take some home if you are just here for the weekend.
• Summer Vegetables – After Labor Day weekend, many of our vegetables will be slowing down and finishing for the year: green beans, zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers.

The orchard will be open Thursday (8/31) through Monday (9/4) only, during market hours (see holiday hours above).  Check in at the market for picking bags and directions.  Please exit the orchard at least 30 minutes before the market closes.

• Blondee.  A medium sized apple, crispy and crunchy, white flesh slow to brown, sweet, and low acid.  Great for eating or baking.  Part of the Gala family.
• Jonamac.  A good cooking or eating apple.  It has the best qualities of a Jonathon and a McIntosh apple, resembles the McIntosh in flavor.  It is a favorite for applesauce.
• Mollie’s Delicious.  A crisp, sweet, and juicy apple with white flesh, originated from Golden Delicious.  Great for fresh eating.

• 9:30 am to 5:30 pm – Thursday, Friday, Saturday
• 9:30 am to 3:30 pm – Sunday, Labor Day Monday (Labor Day)
• Please call ahead or check the website before traveling to make sure the sunflowers are in bloom and the field is open.

Admission Fees and Pricing

• $5 for ages 11 years and up
• $3 for accompanied children 37 inches through 10 years old
• No charge for children up to 36 inches tall on our Sunflower measuring stick
• Additional blooms are $2 each or $1.50 each for 6 or more
• Zinnias and other flowers from our Terrace Garden are 50 cents per stem, please ask about this at check in
• Please check in at the market for directions to the field, pay the admission fee, and receive an informational sheet, sticker, and a receipt that will serve as your “ticket”.

• A complimentary sunflower to take home.  A cutting tool, bag, and water provided.
• Walk from the market up the hill past our terrace garden, continue along the marked path beside the grape vineyard and perennial flowering bush fields.  Many flowers in both gardens to stop and admire!
• Walk through the meandering pathway through the field – a long and short path!
• The walk from the market through the long path is just less than a mile.
• General agricultural educational information posted along the route.
• Photo opportunities throughout the field with sunflowers and various vintage and unique props, including tractors
• Picnic tables, vintage tables, child’s play area, and pop-up tents for shade (wind permitting!)
• Parking near the field and priority parking for those who need to park closer.

Well behaved members of your family are welcome to enjoy our sunflower experience.

Professional photography sessions are available for a fee and photographers will have access to the field during public hours as well as evenings and after hours.  See webpage for more information.

The cost of the class is $15, but free if you are a member of So Flexy.  Bring bottled water, a beach-size towel, sunscreen, yoga mat, and shoes for walking to the class.  Insect repellant as necessary.

Join us on Sunday, September 3 from 1 to 3 pm.  Cost is $37 per person, leave with a beautiful large canvas you can be proud of!

Open to adults and students 16 and over.  Budding artists aged 12 to 15 may participate when accompanied by a registered adult.  Class size is limited.

All supplies are included for this painting workshop taught by Kalamazoo artist Anna Barnhart.  (Wear a shirt you can paint in).  Hard ciders, wine, and non-alcoholic drinks will be available as well as snack items while you work!

Explore your creativity and have some fun!  Register by calling the market at 269-244-5690 or online through the link below.  (If registering through Facebook, press and hold, versus clicking the link.)  Registration link – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C44AAA82FA0FDCE9-painting

Keep in mind that peaches are picked firm to not damage them.  Just lay them out on your counter until they are soft.  As soon as they are soft, please refrigerate.

Be sure to get your last taste of fresh peaches for the year this weekend.  Below is a cutie who knows a good peach!

Ginger Gold.  One of the best early season eating apples.  Sweet and mildly tart flavor.  Great for salads and snacks as they are slow to turn brown, and cooking and baking.

Kindercrisp.  Very crispy and sweet, medium size, with a flavor and texture similar to a Honeycrisp, one of its parents.  Ideal for fresh eating, best kept refrigerated.

Mollie’s Delicious.  A crisp, sweet, and juicy apple with white flesh, originated from Golden Delicious.  Great for fresh eating.

Spartan.  This apple is a cross between a Macintosh and an unknown variety.  It is a bit smaller in size, has a crisp white flesh that is aromatic, juicy, and crisp-tart.  They are good for fresh eating, baking, cooking, and juicing.

Zestar.  A relatively new variety that has the crispness of a fall apple.  It tastes sweet and tangy, with accents of brown sugar, and is known for its unique flavor.  The apple is best used for fresh eating, in a variety of baked goods, sauces, desserts, and salads.  It can be stored for up to two months.

Below, our just picked Mollie’s Delicious!

Sweet corn is available on the market by the ear, half dozen (white bags), and dozen (clear bags).  We also have bushel bags (5 doz.) available with advance notice.  Please call 269-244-5690 if you’d like us to make a bushel for you.

• Sweet corn (bushel minimum, 5 doz.)
• Canning tomatoes (half bushel minimum)
• Roma tomatoes (half bushel minimum) – still contacting people
• Bell peppers (half bushel minimum) – still contacting people
• Specialty peppers (quarter bushel minimum)

We have a lot of canning tomatoes available.  Now is the time to get them!  Please bring containers to take them home in.  Call us for more information at 269-244-5690.

Alcohol Products
We have 8 different wines, 8 different hard ciders, and assorted fruit brandies.  Our products are made on-site in small batches.  We distill the brandies on the farm and use our fresh apple cider as the basis for fermenting our hard ciders.  Hard ciders currently in stock are: Cherry, Dry, Sweet, Semi-Sweet, Blueberry, and Maple.

Do you have a houseful of family or guests this weekend?  If so, you’ll want to pick up some of our wines and hard ciders.  This may be the weekend to stock our Full House wine, a semi-dry white full-bodied wine that bursts with ripe apple and pear flavor.  Serve chilled alone, with sweet to spicy entrees. or with a fruit dessert.

• Fruit: blueberries, peaches, and cantaloupe
• Apples: Earliblaze, Ginger Gold, Kindercrisp, Mollie’s Delicious, Spartan, and Zestar
• Fredonia grapes (blue, seeded) – available starting Saturday.
• Fall Squash: Butternut, spaghetti and a few other varieties are starting to come in
• Tomatoes: red and green
• Mini tomatoes: various shapes and colors
• Vegetables: zucchini, cucumbers, cauliflower, yellow squash, and onions
• Peppers: various types, hot and mild
• Sweet corn
• U-pick herbs
• From Bankson Lake Farms: lettuce mixes, spinach, kale, arugula, mushrooms, carrots, radishes, and garlic bulbs

We only grow the “Sugar-cube” variety which is a personal size melon, but know some of you want the regular size.  Below we are unloading melons from a local farm.

• Faith in Flora will be here with fresh floral bouquets.
• We will also have buckets of individual sunflowers from our field for you to choose from.

U-Pick Flowers
Flowers from our terrace garden are ready to be picked and taken to brighten up a room!  There are lots of lovely ones to choose from to make up your own bouquet.

Check in at the market for a container and directions.  U-pick bouquets are $10 each and include flowers and fillers (greenery).  We recommend that you pick your flowers in the morning when it is cooler; they will keep longer.

• Crisps – peach or blueberry, special for this weekend
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Donuts – Buttermilk, Blueberry, and Cherry
• Yeast Ring donuts – assorted sprinkles and googly eyes

Anytime treats:

• Strombolis (frozen, ready to bake) – assorted flavors in breakfast, traditional, and pizza styles.
• Cookies – Assorted flavors you will surely enjoy!
• Muffins – A nice selection of flavors perfect for any time of the day including pumpkin
• Sunflower bread – seasonal
• Breads – assorted types plus hamburger and hotdog buns
• Fruit pies (frozen, ready to bake) – Apple, Dutch Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, Pumpkin, and Strawberry Rhubarb.

Starting this weekend, we are switching to pumpkin and everyone’s favorite apple cider donuts.  We will also have pumpkin rolls and pumpkin muffins.

And this weekend only, we will have two yummy crisps – Peach and Blueberry.

During sunflower season we offer sunflower oil and are busy making sunflower bread.  We have sunflower candy, sunflower butter, and sunflower seed packages also.

Please contact us if you want to preorder any of our baked goods.

Yoder’s fry pies in your favorite flavors: Apple, Black Raspberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, Red Raspberry, and Strawberry Rhubarb.

Gifts
Come get the new “Spookley the Square Pumpkin: The “First Day of School” book.  And when you purchase it, get a free quarter-peck bag of apples of your choice.  A perfect gift for those just starting school along with a healthy school lunch or after-school snack!