We have grown Strawberries right from when we first relocated to Hillsburgh. It's one of the of the only fruits that most people love whether in a bowl with sugar, strawberry shortcake, or still warm, just picked out of the fields.

Pick your own is still a very popular activity for a lot of families. It doesn't really matter if it's a way to spend a sunny afternoon with the family, or if you are serious berry pickers who make their own jam or freeze the berries for cold winter days. There is nothing like biting into a warm Strawberry that you have just picked off the plant!

On our own farm we offer our customers the choice, you can either pick your own berries, or you can buy the strawberries ready picked.

Because we a little farther north than most berry farms our berries are usually not ready till closer to the end of July.

Over the years we have seen so many memorable families that have come out to pick, it might be little kids so excited to go out to pick their own strawberries, to when they come back in the store with strawberry juice running down their chin and you look from them to their parents and find they have juice running down their chin too! Or it could be the young woman who is nine months pregnant, , coming out to pick strawberries before she has her baby!

Hope to see you in July, stop for some Strawberries for your drive in the car!

The decadent fruit, the fruit that they put on desserts at restaurants (just a couple just enough to tease you). They melt in your mouth and are so full of flavour that they seem to explode.

Unfortunately, they are also the most fragile. If you pick your own, do not ever put them in a sealed container or they will literally melt before you get them home. Also if you layer them to deep, wow you will have jam before you get home. But even so it's worth it.

It's my favourite fruit, when they are in season, I scoot down the rows of raspberries (on the ATV) and I can stop and have a quick snack.

Freeze them on a cookie sheet, then keep them in a bag in your freezer, use them as ice cubes in your white wine spritzer, or pop one in your mouth the flavour will literally blow you away.

There are three different color's, white, black, and the traditional red. All are good but the red is the sweetest, the black is the hardiest. But all are good!

"Why does it make my pee smell funny?" We hear people talking and joking all the time that ,everyone is going to know what they had for dinner.

Well in most cases that's true but, Asparagus affects everyone differently. If you are one of the "lucky ones" at least you know that your kidneys are functioning as they should!

The good news is that asparagus does not affect everyone. Studies conducted on "asparagus urine" indicated that it only affected around 40 to 50 percent of those who volunteered. Now tell the truth aren't you glad that you didn't volunteer?

There is all kind of speculation why this occurs, such as that a certain gene produces a digestive enzyme which breaks the asparagus into various chemicals compounds. One "theory" suggests that asparagus breaks down quickly in the body and an enzyme releases "methyl mercaptan" which eventually goes through the kidneys and is excreted as a waste product in the urine.

Another suggestion is that the asparagus smell is created by other chemical compounds called "thioesters" There is also a compound called "asparagusic acid" which is found in asparagus "DUH". If these compounds are broken down and mixed with the genetically created enzyme, the result could be strong smelling urine.

And that being said, perhaps we should just not worry about it and enjoy the first vegetable of the season!

There was a time that Asparagus was only available in the spring months, usually beginning on May to the end of June. But now you see it all seasons on the year. Is it as fresh as when Ontario Asparagus is available "NO". The only time you can truly experience "Fresh Asparagus" is when you go to the farm and buy it when it has been pick that day! That way you know that it hasn't been shipped and stored in a warehouse for days sometimes weeks!

Our own asparagus is usually ready for us to start picking for middle of May, that date can go either way according to the weather.

What can I say? Everyone likes a good pea, Ha Ha!!

You have not lived until you have gone out in the field and just stood there eating Peas.

We have people who stop in the summer just to buy peas on the way to the cottage, to get a bag to munch on in the car. A lot healthier than eating chips!

This is going to be the first year that we will be opening the fields for pick your own, might require a bit of a walk but believe me it will be worth it.

We also will be selling Peas bulk by the bushel and half bushel. Keep in touch, when the field is ready to be picked it usually has to be picked within acouple of days according to the weather.

Beans beans the musical fruit

The more you eat the more you toot

The more you toot the better you feel

So eat some beans with every meal!!!!

I really don't know how many people have heard this poem, but I know that my dad use to say it all the time. Of coarse the poem is suppose to be for Baked Beans, but I think it's cute.

Green beans and Waxed (Yellow) Beans are one of the most popular summer and fall vegetables that there is. Picked fresh, crisp and colorful, eaten raw, steamed, boiled, BBQ, or even saute'd.

There is over 100 different varieties of Beans, there are green, yellow, purple, bush, pole, runners etc... the list could go on forever.

What you should know is that Beans freeze extremely well. It is a vegetable that should be considered if you are a family that freezes vegetables in the summer so that you can enjoy them in the winter and spring months. We grow a lot of beans and I mean a lot, and in the summer months we sell beans by the bushel or half bushel so the your cost drop dramatically.

Like everything else there are different types. You have Green and red what I call regular cabbage, then you have Savoy Cabbage it's green and is very mild, it's leafs looks like they need to be ironed and can only be found in the late summer months give or take a few weeks, it's excellent for Cabbage Rolls but use it quickly because it tends to wilt and go soft very fast.

As far as Green Cabbage goes you can get a summer cabbage in the summer months, usually really big and light in weight. And of coarse you can get Winter Cabbage, it is the most versatile of the green type, we can store it in the fall in our HUGE COOLER at 33 degrees and it will keep up to a year. It has the best flavour and color. Very dense and a light to dark green color.

If you go to our "Recipes" you will find Jeff's famous cole slaw recipe.

Potatoes

Red, White, Yukons, Purple, Yellow Flesh, Baking, Fingerlings, the list goes on and on. And it seems to grow every year.

Okay you want to hear something wild, a potato is 80% water an 20% solid, and it's not the potato itself that is fattening but what you put on them (butter, sour cream etc...) A medium size baking potato has only 100 calories and 0 fat.

Baby potatoes fresh out of the field, butter, salt and pepper, boy it doesn't get any better! If you go to the Erin Fall Fair, the Erin Optimists sell Yukon Gold French Fries. Guess what they use our potatoes!

We usually will have our own mini (baby) potatoes in the store for sale in late July, this is when you buy what you need for the couple of days because the skin is very thin and the potatoes will not keep! For the people who want to store potatoes for the winter we start to sell 50lb. Bags mid-October.

Potatoes

Wow Sweet Corn! If there could be two world that mean so much, hot sunny days, BBQ with family and friends, butter, salt and pepper, and something cold to drink!

From the first days that we open the market for the year, the most popular question is " When will your corn be ready?"

I would like to explain that Sweet Corn is for our consumption, it can be "Super Sweet", "Peaches and Cream", "Bi-color", yellow, white, the list again goes on and on. You would never find, how can I put it "Cow Corn" in any store for sale for Human consumption, unless someone really made a huge mistake!

Everyone has their own preference to what they like the best, the best selling corn is still and Bi-Color or as most people say Peaches and Cream. Mind you we have been seeing more and more people coming in and asking if we grow Yellow Corn. I wish that we could have a little of everything for everyone, but it's impossible.