Blackberries are the only thing offered for pick-your-own in 2011. We hope to offer strawberries also in spring, 2012. Keep checking website or Facebook for updates.

Availability: Blackberries are usually available here from mid-May through at least the latter part of June, and if Mother Nature smiles upon us, we sometimes are still picking berries into July. Unfortunately, this year (2011) the incessant drought and unrelenting wind and heat is making for a very short season. Due to our extensive irrigation system, the berries we have as of this posting (June 13, 2011) are ripe and very plentiful, but in another week or two they will be gone ’til next year. The heat is cooking the berries that are exposed to the sun–those that are shaded by leaves are still in great shape but that won’t last more than a couple more weeks if we are lucky.

Directions: If you would like to pick berries, please make an immediate right turn as you enter the driveway. Please park in the shaded lot up near Gosling Road. Thank you for keeping the front of the market parking for short-term shoppers. After parking, come into the market for a bucket and picking instructions. Once you have picked all  you desire, return to the market and we will weigh your purchase. The buckets are lined with plastic bags, so we just remove the bag and you can take it home in that. The berries are very firm so they are fine in a bag.

How to select a great blackberry: First and foremost, red berries are sour and will stay sour–they will not ripen after picking.  In blackberries, more important than the size of the berry is the size of the individual “drupes,”–the little round balls that make up the blackberry. The larger they are, the greater the pulp-to-seed ratio, so the juicier the berry. Also, if you feel the need to tug on the berry at all, just leave it–if you attempt to break the berry stem over at an approximate 90 degree angle (right angle, L-shape) , a fully ripe one will fall into your hand. When that happens you know you just found a perfect one! Oh, one more thing–if you wear sunglasses while picking, you just might end up with a whole bucket of red blackberries. Just peek out from under them in the beginning to discover what color berry you need to pick so you get the ones you want.

Amenities: You can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need:  Porta-pottie (we do business with locally-owned  “Tanks Alot”  from Tomball) on the side of the driveway, with a hand sink under the trees. Water coolers with cups are located in the berry field during berry picking season, filled with refreshing well water. We even have park benches on the edge of the field for that all-important hydration break.

Please note that fields are only open to the public during picking season. All other times of the year the public is not allowed in the field. The greenhouse and all other farm property, including poultry house, is ALWAYS cl0sed to the public.