News and Blog
Monday October 27,2008 FREEZE COMING!
Dear Raspberry Lovers-
We have had only light frost so far but a freeze is predicted tonight and Tuesday night so today will be the last chance to pick raspberries for 2008. There are still a number of good berries left.
We both have to work today but will leave the canopy set up for self service U-Pick.
Thanks to all of you for your patronage this season!
Peace,
John & Karen
Qualla Berry Farm
3274 Qualla Rd
Hayesville, NC 28904
828-389-3551
www.quallaberryfarm.com
Berry Lovers!
We will have our final U-Pick of the fall season on Saturday Oct 11from 9am til 1pm or whenever we sell out. Gate opens at 9 AM sharp.
The one day of rain didn't hurt things too bad and we still have some nice raspberries. For directions and other details see our website.
Thanks to everyone for another enjoyable season!
John & Karen
Qualla Berry Farm
3274 Qualla Rd
Hayesville, NC 28904
828-389-3551
www.quallaberryfarm.com
Dear Berry Lovers-
Due to (A) Popular demand, (B) Lots of beautiful berries that are still peaking, and (C) the fact that we will be away next weekend, now therefore:
We will be open for Raspberry U-Pick on Wednesday Oct 1 from 5:00 till dark (about 7:30).
There may be some some weekday picking hours the week of the 6th also.
Happy Fall,
John & Karen
Qualla Berry Farm
3274 Qualla Rd
Hayesville, NC 28904
828-389-3551
www.quallaberryfarm.com
Dear Raspberry Lovers!
Fall raspberry season is here again and we have a nice bloom happening. We expect to have U-Pick openings on Saturdays this September on the 13th, 20th, and 27th from 9AM to 1PM or until we sell out. We also have sourwood honey for sale and a limited amount of Organic Asian Pears.
Tropical Storm Fay bailed us out with a nice soaking rain after an alarming dry August. We will hope the rest of the hurricanes bring us some rain but not too much!
Thanks again to our Work Party weeders who helped make this season possible by doing the May weeding.
If you are receiving this email you are on our mailing list and will get a weekly confirmation email regarding our U-Pick openings. More details on our farm are posted at www.quallaberryfarm.com .
Peace to All,
John and Karen
We will be holding a second Weeding Work Party to be held this Saturday May 31st from 10 to 3. We’ll continue to blitz through the raspberry beds and have them weeded and mulched so there is plenty of room for the new growth coming on. This time we will be working earlier in the day for cooler temperatures and less chance of showers.
We intend to barter for weeding labor this year and give our community an opportunity to participate in the work of growing berries. We will trade a $5.00 share coupon for every half-hour of work, redeemable for products from our farm as listed below. Any time this Saturday that you have available from a half hour to a half day for weeding and mulching is fine. Please come between 10 AM and 3 PM on May 31st with sunhat, sunscreen, gloves, and your favorite weeding tool or hand clippers.
The following are items we have to offer in exchange for helping us with the raspberry beds. Quantities are limited; everything is organically grown.
Available for redeeming your coupons this Saturday:
Raspberry plants
Wildflower and Sourwood Honey
U-Pick Strawberries
U-Pick Pie Cherries
Redeemable later in the season (we’ll write share coupons):
U-pick Mulberries (June)
(The cherries, strawberries, and mulberries are exclusively available to Work Party participants)
U-Pick Raspberries (June or September)
U-Pick Blueberries (July)
We-Pick Asian Pears (September)
In addition we will place workers who come to the Weeding Work Party on a special mailing list for first notification of openings for U-Pick Berries. (With a smaller berry crop, there may be times we will open by invitation only and not open to the public)
Please email us at jkqualla@verizon.net if you can come, or call 828-389-3551 for more information.
Remember that we have a new and improved website at www.quallaberryfarm.com where people can add their names to the mailing list and get directions, picking updates, and recipes.
Happy Gardening!
Karen Hurtubise and John Clarke
Spring is hitting its peak here in the North Carolina Mountains and it looks like we have the beginnings of a very good fruit year. We luckily missed the two late frosts in April so our blueberries, cherries, mulberries, and Asian Pears are full of fruit. The raspberries are still recovering from the past two hot dry summers but we will have a small June crop this year.
If you have not seen our website lately please go to www.quallaberryfarm.com to see our new format including our blogs (we are still learning about blogs), picking updates, photos, easy directions, email list signup, and event calendar.
We would like to invite you to participate in our Weeding Work Party to be held this Saturday May 24th (this Saturday of Memorial Day weekend). Our hope is to blitz through the raspberry beds and have them weeded and mulched so there is plenty of room for the new growth coming on.
We intend to barter for weeding labor this year and give our community an opportunity to participate in the work of growing berries. We will trade a $5.00 share coupon for every half-hour of work, redeemable for products from our farm as listed below. Any time this Saturday that you have available from a half hour to a half day for weeding and mulching is fine. Please come between 12 noon and 6PM on May 24th with sunhat, sunscreen, gloves, and your favorite weeding tool or hand clippers.
The following are items we have to offer in exchange for helping us with the raspberry beds. Quantities are limited; everything is organically grown.
Available for redeeming your coupons this Saturday:
Raspberry plants
Wildflower and Sourwood Honey
Redeemable later in the season (we’ll write share coupons):
We-Pick Strawberries (May-June)
U-pick Pie Cherries (June)
U-pick Mulberries (June)
(the first three above are exclusively available to Work Party participants)
U-Pick Raspberries (June or September)
U-Pick Blueberries (July)
We-Pick Asian Pears (September)
In addition we will place workers who come to the Weeding Work Party on a special mailing list for first notification of openings for U-Pick Berries. (With a smaller berry crop, there may be times we will open by invitation only and not open to the public)
Please email us at jkqualla@verizon.net if you can come, or call 828-389-3551 for more information.
Happy Gardening!
Karen Hurtubise and John Clarke
Our Raspberry plants are beginning to flower and our rows in dire need of weeding. Email us if you are interested in helping us weed and mulch the rows in exchange for raspberry plants and the opportunity for special picking privileges. We will be emailing the date and time of our community raspberry weeding events so let us know now if you are interested in helping. This will help us decide whether or not to open the berries up to general public picking this upcoming June.
Mulberries, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, asian pears, and apples are really looking healthy and beautiful. Compared to last year, we were very lucky and missed the last two frost periods with a low of 34 degrees each night. Close but whew! Fruit blossoms missed damage. Abundance in 2008!
Karen taught a weekend berry class at John C Campell Folk School and made new friends. In researching unusual fruit, she had discovered the Ribes family, ie gooseberries and currants. Unfortunately they are illegal to grow in North Carolina. We are planting several varieties of Ribes in Young Harris Georgia where they are legal and will be very happy. Currants have more vitamin C than citrus and more antioxidants than blueberries. Their illegality appears based on outdated almost 100 year law and old science that is still afraid of the Ribes family being a dangerous threat to white pine forests. Given the current catastrophe with hemlock wooly adlegids, I understand the nervous tension about imported bugs and disease on plants by the Foresters and Timber business. After careful study, the Federal Government released the ban in the 1966 but around 17 states still make gooseberries and currants illegal to grow. The varieties I chose were specially developed and bred so they are not a secondary host to the fungus Cronartium ribicola. Europeans are crazy for currants and gooseberries. This U.S. Timber industry vs. Agriculture industry debate will be an interesting story to investigate further when we are not so busy. This winter I will look more deeply into the story. I invite any discussion/advice on the experience of growing/loving/hating the Ribes family.
Hope everyone in North Carolina voted today. We did.
Enjoy Spring,
Karen and John
March is here with its late snows and cold. Though we haven't seen any new raspberry growth yet, there is certainly some stirring below ground. Soon the new primocanes will be appearing and we will hope for better rains and some good growth and production this year. We have been working on weeding and mulching over the winter and have begun installing irrigation.
The new website template we are using (from www.smallfarmcentral.com ) enables us to quickly post picking updates and news so we'll have more up to date information on our berries.
We have been to both the Georgia Organics conference and the Organic Growers School and have some new learning and inspiration. We are so impressed by the dedication and talent of the other small scale agriculture workers in our region.