STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL KNOX GREEN HILL FARM www.knoxgreenhillfarm.com 3234 140th Ave. - Glenwood City East end of town - follow signs straight thru on Oak St. SAT. - JUNE 23 - 10am Family Fun - Games - Prizes - Face Painting - Nail Painting - Craft Fair - Jams Tasting - Eats & Treats - Crafts - Baked Goodies U-PICK & WE PICK BERRIES

STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL SATURDAY, JUNE 23 most of the day BERRIES,GAMES, CRAFTS, TREATS U-PIC and We-PIC all day

Here it is: June 2, 2012 and I am embarrassed that it's been so long! Picked a few berries this week and figure we will strt for real around the 10th. This is unheard of! June 20 is more normal. But what has been normal this year? After this summer, we will have only the strawberries. The asparagus is gone as of today. Raspberries will be gone after July. Blueberries will be gone by next spring. All that area will be planted in corn. We finally realized that the years are catching up with us and cutting back is the only way to go. The sheep will still be around, as well as the horses, chickens, ducks, geese, cats and Belle. After spending a week in Florida we are more determined than ever to go while the going is still good! It's been fun but time to shorten the party!

Strawberries are done here come the Raspberries!

STRAWBERRIES ARE THE BEST EVER!

Started picking in earnest over the weekend. These berries are the best we have ever had - dark red, juicy, sweet, perfectly shaped. They smell sooooooo good!
We're open every day now until the end of the season. The kids start picking about 8 and berries are available shortly after that. YouPick is open whenever you want to pick.
Plans are coming to a head for the Strawberry Festival on Saturday. Hope to see you there!

PICKING UPDATE

We will pick Saturday unless it is raining. Call for more information.

OOPS!!! RAIN DELAY

Picked one bucket this morning - rain is really slowing the berries down. We will not complain but it sure makes us anxious! Hopefully we will pick on Friday - all it will take is a day of sun. If that happens, we could stand there and watch the berries ripen. Be sure to call before making a trip out here. We will keep you posted.

OPEN FOR PICKING THURSDAY

Tuesday, June 20, Charlie and Bailey will do the prepick which should make us open for picking on Thursday, Friday for sure. Might want to give us a call before coming or check back here Thursday morning.

Happy Father's Day it was! The Mooses had dinner at Lake Tahoe, the Duvicks at Mt. Ranier, Mike Knoxes here - quite a day! Yesterday was also Kalvin's 12th birthday. His choice of birthday dinner was pretty simple: ribs, corn, Gram's bread, red velvet cake and neopolitan ice cream! We tossed in some salad, asparagus and baked potatoes and all of us ate until we were more than stuffed!
Kal and Kade picked about 2 quarts of red, juicy, delicious strawberries and took home the few they didn't eat and could keep away from mom, Jenny. Those first berries are sooooooo good. Summer is here!

Meg, Kate & Alex picked a few red berries yesterday. Look for us to start picking next Wed. or Thu. We will post it as soon as we know for sure. The girls all said the strawberries are delicious! Wonderful rain last night and today. Berries should be the best ever!

Suddenly there are berries! More berries than we have ever had! Tom guesstimates that we will have about 800+ buckets of picked berries which translates to about 6000 pounds of strawberries which is around 3 tons! Pretty hard to imagine? Well it's hard for us to imagine, too! With the .4" of rain last night, the berries should about double in size in the next day or so. The cool weather is probably good for a day or two and when it warms up next week, we should start finding a few ripe ones here and there. The field looks wonderful; it should be a good year.
The Strawberry Festival plans are all set. We put ads everywhere we could and are hoping that not all of our friends/family/customers will head north to the lakes. The highlight will be a chocolate fountain. Sis-in-law, Judy Fesler, is the chocolate fountain guru and is bringing it from Danville, Iowa. We encourage everyone to wear a bib!
Daughter, Jane and her daughters are ready to do face painting and nail painting --- all in strawberries of course. There will be lots of fun at their tent.
Some of the craft tents will be "barn quilts," ceramics, jewelry, lawn art, soaps, jams and jellies, honey, breads from Kate's, and much more.
We will miss the first weekend of picking but have folks who will handle it all. We will be Seattle at Patrick and Jaime's wedding - a short trip out and back but what a wonderful time it will be.
Updates will follow on berry status and wedding fun!

Memorial Day Weekend - a memorable weekend indeed! Lisa, Jane, Mike and all the grandkids here. Thanks to all of them, tomatoes, cucs, peppers, eggplant, cabbage, brussel sprouts are all in the ground. Just a few squash and pumpkins are left for Grampa to plant plus the onions and seeds (beans, carrots, beets, etc.). Potatoes made it into the ground last Thursday with Charl and Alex's help; sweet corn and field corn are planted. The deck is clean and the furniture is out. The screen porch was perfect for the kids - it's their outdoor restaurant. The outdoor shower is complete with soap, shampoo and scrubbies just waiting for a warm afternoon. The pond has close to several hundred less tadpoles after umpteen trips with a jar full by wide-eyed, grinning, muddy little people. A few baby kittens were found and quickly hidden again by their moms. Plans for a campfire got rained out but burgers and hotdogs are still good when everyone's been outside all day. Not sure whose fault it is but somehow a bucket and a half of ice cream disappeared! Chocolate chip pancakes are really the breakfast of choice for the kids; their parents didn't fair badly with omelets and sausages! A brew and a glass of wine are so much better shared with people you love.
Just 4 weeks from today we will all be in Seattle for Patrick and Jaime's wedding along with some of our favorite people. Although it will be a short week, we are all excited and so happy for them.
This coming week is to be warmer so the asparagus may really be at it's peak. Strawberries are blooming and the fruit trees have all bloomed. We think there are many less blooms on the fruit trees than in years past but we will see.
So much to be thankful for.

STRAWBERRY
FESTIVAL
KNOX GREEN HILL FARM
SAT. - JULY 2 - 10am-2pm
FAMILY FUN - GAMES - PRIZES
TASTING - EATS & TREATS
U-PICK & WE PICK BERRIES

Just back from Tom's 55th high school class reunion. Amazing how people change/don't change/think they haven't changed/still need to make some changes! I even had a great time meeting some new folks and visiting with some I've met before. It's also amazing how 500 miles south can make such a difference in spring; trees were completely leaved out, lilacs blooming, flowers everywhere, corn up about 6" (not much even planted around here); the whole drive is one change after another. Over the years we've always tried to make a stop at Mona's Restaurant in Toluca, Il. for lunch or dinner. We made it there early afternoon. Tom had his usual tortellinis with sausage; I had mostaccioli; salads are simple and covered with creamy blue cheese and topped with grated blue cheese. Throw in a glass of red and heaven is here. Anyone travelling down I-39 should make a quick turn to the west at Illinois 17 for a taste test. It's well worth the trip.
Today is errands and mowing. Spring truly has arrived with the feeling we are already about 3 weeks behind.
Asparagus is growing - seems to taste better this year than ever.
Our morel mushroom friend, Tony, hasn't had much luck so far so it may be a mushroomless house here. Heard they were thick in Illinois and Iowa.
Plans are growing for the Strawberry Fest. More on that later.