The Strawberries are looking great, some fields are in full bloom and a lot of small fruit is forming. We are anticipating a very early picking season so mark your calendars, so you don’t miss out. Pre-picked strawberries might be available the end of May with Pick Your Own starting the 1st week in June, stay tuned. It won’t be long till we taste those sweet juicy strawberries. =)

What else is “Growing” on at the Farm? Peas are sprouted and growing good. Blueberries and Raspberries are looking great. We expanded the entrance and parking areas to the Farm Store, and lot of new signage is being finished up to help out all of our great customers. The Corn Maze is all planted and should be popping thru the ground soon. The 3 acres of Pumpkins will be planted the week of the 20th with the weather permitting. See you soon at the Farm.

Sharing Traditions
Porter’s Patch

Tags: green bay wisc, Appleton, fox valley area, Kaukauna, squash, colored corn, corn mazes, fall fun, farm markets, gourds, straw bales, beans, farms, northeast wi, northeastern wis, Clintonville, Waupaca county, depere, Neenah Menasha, Winnebago county, Oshkosh, you pick fruit, pyo, u pick, berry farms, brown cty, Outagamie county Wisconsin, pickles, pickling cucumbers, dill, we pick, already picked, produce, vegetables, blueberry, strawberry

Hello Friends of the Farm

Great news, the new Strawberry field for 2013 picking is all planted. 12,000 plants are in the ground and had to irrigate them due to the lack of moisture lately. The two varieties planted were Honeoye and Jewel. This field will produce tons and tons of berries in each of its three fruit producing years (we only keep a field 3 years in production). This upcoming rain is much needed, thanks Mother Nature.

Asparagus will soon be ready if we get rid of the cool nights as of late. We were able to pick enough for a couple of meals, but the freezing nights took care of that. We are starting to take orders and will fill them as the Asparagus becomes available. Check our website www.porterspatch.com for updated information or feel free to call 715-758-8162 or 715-584-2070.

We planted some of our peas and will plant the rest the later part of next week. The corn Maze ground is being all worked up and we anticipate planting in a week or two. The Corn Maze will be bigger and better than ever before, so mark your calendars for a trip to the Farm this fall. All three acres of Pumpkins will be planted around mid May and if all goes right, we will have thousands and thousands of pumpkins to choose from, I can’t wait!

Hope to see you out at the Farm for some tender fresh picked Asparagus very soon and for some fresh juicy sweet Strawberries…..the picking season will be here shortly.

Growing Memories
Porter’s Patch

FYI – The Wisconsin Berry Growers Association Field Day @ Porter’s Patch has been moved up 2 weeks to Friday May 18th. Further information at www.wiberries.org

Fresh Berrys early to mid June

TAGS: brown county, Outagamie county, northeast wisc, north eastern wi, fox valley area, Winnebago county, Neenah Menasha, Neenah, blueberries, blueberry, squash, produce, vegetables, farm market, green bay, Appleton, beans, pickling cucumbers, pickles, dill, raspberrys, raspberries, gourds, colored corn, farms, Kaukauna, howard, suamico, Waupaca cty, Clintonville, new London, hortonville, pick your own, pyo, u pick, we pick, pre picked fruits, grandchute, fall fun

We started to see our first shoots of Asparagus poking thru the soil a few days ago; we have never seen this before in March. If the warm temps keep up we might be picking soon……stay tuned.

We were busy taking the straw off the Strawberries this past Saturday and Sunday. We probably should have done this sooner, but it is just so early and just real hesitant to. I checked the history journal and April 8th was the earliest we have ever taken straw off in the past.

There was no time to waste as we started setting up the irrigation system that will protect the flower buds and blossoms on those cool nights below 32 degrees. We are hoping by mid week to have this process finished and do a test run with positive results.

Our Raspberries and Blueberries have all started to bud out and growing new shoots. Everything on the Farm has started to grow and we are just crossing our fingers that we don’t get a real cold hard freeze, which would do great damage to many plants at this stage.

The earliest we have opened for picking strawberries was June 8th, is it possible to have berries the end of May? A lot of time is left between now and then, so we will see what happens. I do know we have gotten off to a fast start, let just hope that everything works out, and just need a little luck.

See You Soon at the Farm

TAGS: Peas, beans, pickles, pickling cucumbers, Strawberry farms, Neenah Menasha Wisconsin, Outagamie county wi, brown cty wisc., northeast wi, northeastern wis, fox valley, Appleton area, Kaukauna, depere, suamico, howard, Waupaca county, Winnebago county, Wisconsin farms, pick your own, pyo, u pick strawberries, you pick berrys, fruits, vegetables, produce, farm markets, locally grown, Neenah, green bay area, Greenville, new London, Clintonville, Hortonville, raspberries, asparagus, squash, pumpkins, corn maze, grand chute, north east wi, strawberry farm Wisconsin, strawberries Wisconsin, strawberrys Wisconsin, strawberry’s Wisconsin, corn maze, fall fun, raspberry, raspberry’s, raspberrys, blueberries, blueberrys, blueberry’s,

Enjoying the warm weather and getting a jump on all the spring work.  We have finished narrowing all the Raspberry rows, almost half done with thinning the small and damaged Raspberry canes.  Even tho we thin and prune the season before, we always seem to find plenty of the small weak canes that need to be cut out, maybe it’s because they don’t have there leaves.

Asparagus field are all prepped and ready to go for the most part, if this warm weather keeps up, Asparagus picking might start earlier than normal.  Usually the beginning of May is normal for the Farm, well see what happens.

We started working the soil in the new area for this years Strawberry plantings.  Typically we try and plant them around mid April.  What a difference a year makes, as last year we got dumped  on with 12″ to 18″ of snow March 22 & 23 and suffering from a very high cabin fever. 

TAGS:  u pick, already picked, you pick, pick your own, northestern wisconsin, blueberry, pumpkins, corn maze, peas, fox valley, brown county, outagamie county, green bay, appleton, neenah, menasha, fall fun, pyo, depere area, locally grown, local farms, farm markets, strawberry, strawberrie, navarino wisc

We finished up all our seed orders this past week (variety of pumpkins, squash, ornamental corn, peas, dill and pickling cucumbers). This will account for about four acres of plantings. We also have some more Blueberry plants coming in and our Strawberry plants were ordered back in December. I have a feeling that we might experience an early spring like a few years ago, but I’m not promising that.
Growing Sweet Memories
Porter’s Patch

Nutritional Value of Strawberries
One serving of eight medium sized strawberries contains:
*140% of the US RDA allowance of Vitamin C
*20% of the daily value for folic acid
*NO FAT!!! NO SODIUM!!! Cholesterol Free!!! YEA!!!
*Only 50 Calories!
*Source of potassium, folacin, and dietary fiber.

40 to 50 days should be enjoying fresh tender Asparagus....mmmmm

TAGS: Neenah Menasha Wisconsin, Outagamie county wi, brown cty wisc., northeast wi, northeastern wis, fox valley, Appleton area, Kaukauna, green bay area, depere, suamico, howard, Waupaca county, Winnebago county, Wisconsin farms, pick your own, pyo, u pick, you pick, fruits, vegetables, produce, farm markets, locally grown, Neenah, Greenville, new London, Clintonville, Hortonville, raspberries, asparagus, grand chute, north east wi, strawberry Wisconsin, strawberries Wisconsin, strawberrys Wisconsin, strawberry’s Wisconsin, corn maze, fall fun, raspberry, raspberry’s, raspberrys, blueberries, blueberrys, blueberry’s

                                     Taken at the Farm closing Oct.6, 2006

Many great family stories have been flying around the past two or three weeks and this was a new one I did not hear before. My Uncle on my Dad’s side and I won’t name names; hint I only have one uncle. He was a youngster and planted cucumbers on the farm and was so proud. He found a bag of fertilizer that was his dads and carefully put a handful on each plant and waited for amazing results. I’m assuming to him this was going to be a first in his many crops of his farming future, but it turns out that it was a bag of concrete and took much razzing from his siblings and neighbors. He says he had a firm crop that year. He did go onto become very successful but as you can guess it was not in agriculture. Thanks for giving me permission to share, I think he did.
Growing Memories
Harvesting Fun
Porter’s Patch

TAGS: U-pick, pick your own, pre picked, pyo, you pick, peas, blueberries, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, dill, raspberries, asparagus, navarino, Wisconsin, Outagamie county, wines, gift baskets, jams, jelly, syrup, hay rides, fall fun, wisc, wi, brown county, green bay area, fox valley, Appleton, Shawano, Neenah Menasha, grand chute, Waupaca county, farm market, Winnebago co, strawberry, northeast wisc, northeastern wi, barn quilts, produce, quarts, pints, wisc berry farm

We just returned from a few days down at the Dells for the Wisconsin Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Conference.  Once again we learned a lot and will soon implement some of those ideas to our farm.  It’s always an exciting time of the year to visit with all the growers from around the state and to meet the new people who are just getting into the biz, and always nice to see our suppliers.  The Wisconsin Berry Growers Association have asked us to host the 2012 Summer Field Day and it will be on Fri. June 1st, further info to follow at www.wiberries.org.  This will be our time to showcase our farm operation to all other growers and a learning opportunity for us how we can better serve you, our customer, because we could not do what we do without you, so Thank You. 

Talk to you soon……Growing Memories, Harvesting Fun – Porter’s Patch

TAGS: strawberries, strawberry, u pick, pick your own farms, you pick,  PYO, pre picked, pumpkins, corn maze, pickling cucumbers, squash, asparagus, blueberries, peas, dill, hay rides, fall fun, fruit, vegetables, fresh, produce, farm market, locally grown, green bay wisconsin, appleton wisc, fox valley wi, brown county, outagamie county, winnebago county, northeastern wisc, berry, berries, quarts, gift baskets, jams, jelly, syrups, wines

The Strawberry fields are all covered for the winter months.  We used oat straw this year & it seemed to work well.  We put tons and tons on so the barn is pretty empty.  We have winter wheat in the ground growing and that will be harvested and used next fall on the Strawberries.

  We have ordered 12,000 strawberry plants and they should arrive around April 1 and the fun will start all over again.  Our 2012 Strawberry plot is all prepped and marked out and will just have to wait for spring to arrive.  Typically we get the plants in the ground mid to 3rd week in April and it all depends on the weather again.

  Our new driveway is in and we will access all the berry fields from a different way, since we are in the back area, it should work out quite nice.  Another big change for next year is that the whole season from May to November we will be at the Farm Store, so no moving down to the little Berry Shack for Strawberry season.  This will be a big change, but this winter I will be busy making a lot of new signage to help with this process.  Looking forward to a great Pick Your Own season coming inJune 2012.  Ahhh can’t wait for those sweet juicy strawberries!!

As Always, See You at The Farm

TAGS: pumpkins, wisconsin, peas, blueberry, asparagus, raspberry, pyo, pre picked, u pick, you pick, farm markets, fruits, fresh, gift baskets, wine, corn maze, produce, vegetables, shawano, barn quilts, north east wisc, fox valley area, appleton, brown county, outagamie county, green bay wi, northeastern wisconsin, locally grown, tours, fall fun, raspberries, blueberries   

Don’t miss it

Hello From the Farm

This will be our last weekend for all our Fall activities, stop on out for some family fun.  Open Sat & Sun 29th & 30th Noon to 4 pm.  Play Jeopardy in our Corn Maze and try to find all 13 hidden Jeopardy questions.  Try your skill at the Apple Sling and try to shoot apples into a cow barrel.  Enjoy a relaxing scenic wagon hay ride around the farm on the Pumpkin Express.  Have some fun in the hay play up in the barn loft.  See you this Weekend   Recommend a call if poor weather conditions

TAGS: raspberries, u-pick, pick your own, you pick, blueberries, raspberry, raspberrie, blueberry, pickles, pickling cucumbers, asparagus, strawberry, strawberries, pre picked, already picked, pumpkin, peas, fruits, fresh, produce, vegetables, squash, corn maze, corn maz, corn mazes, apples, locally grown, brown county wisconsin, outagamie co, fox valley area, northeast wi, northeastern wis, green bay wi, appleton, winnebago county, shawano county, school groups, field trips, pyo, waupaca county, farm market, clintonville, grown local, depere, oconto county, pulaski, neenah menasha, oshkosh, kaukauna, pumpkin farms 

Hello from the Farm,

Our fall activities are in full swing at Porter’s Patch.  The weather is great, the colors are bright, and families are harvesting memories.  Plenty of smiling faces which is always fun.  Don’t miss out, join the fun: Play Jeopardy in the Corn Maze, take a relaxing scenic Wagon Hay Ride around the farm on the Porter Patch Pumpkin Express, try your luck at the Apple Sling and sling apples into a cow barrel, draw your best pumpkin face on the silo, enjoy the Straw Play, and of course roam the pumpkin patch for that perfect pumpkin.  Bring your camera……plenty of photo opportunities

Saturday & Sundays 12-4pm……Wagon Hay Ride $3…….Jeopardy in the Corn Maze$3……..Apple Sling $2 per bucket……Large pumpkins $5…..Med $3……..Small $2……..Squash $2………Straw Bales $5……..Corn Stalks $3……Colored Corn $3…….Gourds .50cent……Pie Pumpkins $2……….Two & under free for hay ride & corn maze

Our Farm Store is open daily 12-4pm for all your fall decorative needs.

We do take reservations for large groups during the week & offer discounts to a group, call for further info.

See You at the Farm www.porterspatch.com

TAGS: raspberries, u-pick, pick your own, you pick, blueberries, raspberry, blueberry, pickles, pickling cucumbers, asparagus, strawberry, strawberries, pre picked, already picked, pumpkin, peas, fruits, fresh, produce, vegetables, squash, corn maze, corn maz, corn mazes, apples, locally grown, brown county wisconsin, outagamie co, fox valley area, northeast wi, northeastern wis, green bay wi, appleton, winnebago county, shawano county, school groups, field trips, pyo, waupaca county, farm market, clintonville, grown local, depere, oconto county, pulaski, neenah menasha, oshkosh, kaukauna, pumpkin farms