May Updates from Patterson Farm
Hi, farm friends! Check out what’s fresh from the farm this May!
By: Victoria Patterson Chrismon
4th Generation Member of Patterson Farm, Inc.
It’s strawberry time!
Strawberry season is one of my favorite times of year on the farm. Warmer weather, plants blooming, baby animals being born in the barn, and guests visiting our farm again always creates a buzz of excitement in the air! The start of strawberry season also signifies the beginning of our growing season here at the farm. We will be busy with planting, growing, and harvesting now through October! We picked our first strawberries on April 7th, and we will be picking daily (weather permitting) for the rest of our strawberry season. Our strawberry season typically lasts through early June, depending on the summer heat.
In addition to picking strawberries, this month we have also been planting many of our summer vegetable plants in the fields. We grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and eggplant for our summer crops. We’ll also be growing some corn this year, too! We start our plants here on the farm from seed and begin growing them in our greenhouses. Once they’ve become established and we think we’re clear from frost, we start planting them in the fields where they will continue to grow before harvest! While we always enjoy strawberry season while it’s here, we know summer harvest will be here before we know it!
Between assisting our wholesale strawberry customers, getting our satellite stands up and going, helping with strawberry field trips, and weekend activities including pick your own at our Market, April has flown by! We always love getting to reconnect with our regulars at the strawberry satellite stands and seeing familiar faces at our Market during strawberry season. We also have had so much fun with our field trip groups so far this spring! And it’s always great to see new faces on the farm, as well as families that make coming out to pick strawberries a tradition.
We look forward to continuing a sweet and fun strawberry season next month!
We’ve also had a busy month in our barnyard with an explosion of baby goats, bunnies, and piglets! It seems like we have had more sets of triplet goats than I can ever remember before this year. So far, all of our babies and mommas are doing well!
Some exciting things we are looking forward to this spring are some hopeful new additions to our barnyard, a sweet strawberry season, and welcoming our field trip and weekend guests out to Patterson Farm Market & Tours.
Things I’m Loving this Month:
The official start of Spring Fun on the Farm and Pick Your Own Strawberries!
Meeting all the new babies in the barn!
Enjoying all of our strawberry treats in the Market and Ice Cream Shop!
What I’m Making this Month:
I’ve been seeing lots of Strawberry Bark recipes on my social media and have been wanting to try them! They look yummy and with just a few ingredients, you have a delicious frozen dessert. Here’s an example I found online: Chocolate Peanut Butter Strawberry Bark – Eating Bird Food. Have any of you tried one of these recipes?
Did You Know?
Each year we send off our strawberries to be made into jams and jellies that we sell in our Market. They are seriously delicious!
Thanks for supporting our family farm!
Until next time,
Victoria Patterson Chrismon