U-pick Tips

I truly hope everyone is taking advantage of the U-pick fields. The time is well worth it, and it is so relaxing and peaceful to be in the field. It is also great to meet other members who have the same interest in healthy and delicious food.

A couple tips:

The raspberries are delicious, but the extreme heat made them ripen unevenly - I was in the field Friday afternoon and found that the top of the raspberries looked perfectly ripe, but when given a gentle tug they did not release - I checked the underneath and saw that the bottom was not ripe, so I left those and moved on. I am hoping they ripen over the weekend - if that happens, the berries will be very abundant. I still found many delicious berries by gently lifting the branches and looking underneath. It only took about 10 min to get my share - a very worthwhile use of my time.
Maybe you have heard on the news that the ticks are especially bad this year - a tick has come home with me in each of the last 2 weeks, so be sure to carefully check yourself and any family members that pick or do workshifts with you when you get home.
Beans: string, snap, green, yellow, wax are interchangeable names for the beans we grow, all can be used and cooked the same way. Field signs say "snap beans". Also, you'll probably notice the harmless Mexican Bean Beetle and its yellow larvae on the plants. There's nothing we can do to truly control them except for mow the spent bean plants before they multiply and spread to newer plantings. Their favorite variety is Provider which is our first planting and will be mowed very soon.

Be sure to come out and pick!!