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Current Information
OPEN FOR BLUEBERRY AND RASPBERRY PICKING TODAY, THURSDAY JULY 29TH, STARTING AT 8:30 AM. READY PICKED BERRIES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE IGNORE DETOUR AND "ROAD CLOSED" SIGNS ON HIGHWAY 13. THERE IS ROAD WORK IN PROGRESS AT RED CLIFF, BUT THE ROAD IS OPEN TO BAYFIELD FROM EITHER DIRECTION.
2010 BERRY PICKING SEASON IN FULL SWING! OPEN: Tuesday - Saturday, 8:30AM until 4:00PM; Sunday, noon until 4:00PM. CLOSED: Sunday AM and all day Monday. We hope you will plan "berry picking" into your upcoming summer activity. Its a great way to spend a day with friends and family! For lodging or other Bayfield events and attractions contact the Bayfield Chamber of Commerce
"OPEN HOUSE" SET FOR AUGUST 21 The date for our annual customer appreciation "Open House" has been set: Saturday, August 21 from 8:30AM until 4:00PM. This is always a fun family event at the farm featuring berry picking, tractor wagon rides, "door" prizes, tours, a free hot dog lunch at noon, and a 10% reduced price for pick-your-own blueberries. Open House is one way our family says "Thank You" to our loyal customers. We hope you can make plans to join us.
STOCK UP ON LOCALLY PRODUCED FOODS OCTOBER 15-17 Several of our area’s best farmers, fruit growers, fishermen, and food & beverage producers have joined to sponsor a new event: BAYFIELD SHORES HARVEST TRAIL, October 15-17. This will be an opportunity to stock your family pantry and freezer with top quality local foods to see you through the winter. This event will also welcome your family to visit the farms, fisheries, and processors to meet the farmers and producers who have grown, harvested, or processed the foods you have purchased. When you shop the Bayfield Shores Harvest Trail website to place your order, you will discover a diverse offering of foods—many unique to our special area: Lake Superior fish--fresh or smoked; apples by the peck or bushel; frozen blueberries; frozen raspberries; bulk vegetables ready for root-cellar, canning, or freezing; hand crafted wines and beverages; organic grass fed beef, free-range poultry, lamb, pork, ham, and sausage cut-and-wrapped to order; sauerkraut, mustards, jams, pie-mixes, honey and MORE. This Fall, plan a “Harvest Vacation”. First, visit the Bayfield Shores Harvest Trail website to place your food order and then travel the Bayfield Shores Harvest Trail on October 15-17 to pick-up your order while visiting the food producers of Ashland and Bayfield County. You will savor the memory of a special experience and will enjoy the great tastes of the Bayfield Region all winter long!
EXTENDING THE RASPBERRY SEASON A three year trial of new early fruiting "fall bearing" red raspberries was initiated this past year at HVF. We are seeking varieties that could make high quality raspberries available late in the summer season when traditional "summer bearing" raspberries begin to fade. Four new varieties were planted and will be evaluated--all are from European breeding programs. The trial planting is expected to bear heavily for the first time during the 2010 season. If you visit the farm in August, be sure to ask about the project. We would like you to sample the fruits and offer your observations and opinions. If one or more of the new varieties is suitable, we will consider planting a block for public picking.
HONEY HARVEST We had another good honey crop last year. The nectar flow from the basswood trees was especially heavy, and the late season provided many warm dry "flying days" for our bees. Due to the heavy basswood flow, the current crop has a color and a flavor that differs from our usual amber product. Several of you have commented to us about it. It has a very pale color and an almost "minty" flavor that makes it especially good as a sweetener for tea or hot cereal. Our "Orchard Sweet" honey is now lining the shelves in our on-farm sales shop which is open daily for drive-in customers.
HVF ASSISTING BLACK CURRANT RESEARCH Although a popular fruit crop in Europe, currants are not widely grown in the USA. Many states once banned the production of black currants because they sometimes hosted a disease deadly to White Pine forests. In recent decades, however, new varieties of currants have been introduced that are immune to the disease. HVF was recently licenced by the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) of Dundee, Scotland, Europe's leading breeder of currants, to trial some of these new varieties for performance in North America. The health benefits for consuming currants rival blueberries. "Red currants" (they range in color from white to purple) are suitable for eating fresh. Black currants are most usually processed as juice. The plants are extremely winter hardy, prefer heavy soils, are drought tolerant, and not attractive to wildlife--in other words, designer made for northern Wisconsin! Our ability to pick this crop with a machine creates even greater opportunities.
BLUEBERRY FIELDS FOREVER SUMMER JOBS STILL AVAILABLE If you are a student currently seeking a summer job, we may have a position for you. We are currently taking applications for summer harvest help. Five to six weeks of seasonal work usually begins in late July and continues through the month of August. Duties include hand-harvest of raspberries and blueberries, sorting and packing of berries on a semi-automated line, and customer service for pick-your-own operations. Wages are well above minimum wage and schedules can be flexible. For a job description and an application, contact us at highlandvalleyfarm@gmail.com.
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We hope you are up for a great berry picking experience this summer! The Blueberry fields opened for picking, Saturday July 17. The raspberry season began on schedule with a first public picking on Saturday July 10th. Both crops are fantastic this year with a heavy fruit-set and perfect field conditions. People visiting HIGHLAND VALLEY FARM will be pleased with both the abundance and the quality of the fruit. It is proving to be a fun season!
Our raspberries are holding up well. We expect to have raspberries available into early August. The blueberries have set a heavy crop for this season. A new block of early fruiting Duke and a heavy set in our late fruiting Nelson block should extend the picking season to the end of August. As in the past, HIGHLAND VALLEY FARM provides containers, ice water, easy parking near the field, shaded picnic tables, clean toilets, and friendly staff. Our schedule for the fields to be open in-season is the same as past years:
A bronze and stone monument was placed at HIGHLAND VALLEY FARM to commemorate protection of the farm by the Bayfield Township Farmland Preservation Program. The program protects area fruit farms and orchards from sub-division and non-farm development by purchasing conservation easements from present farm owners, a strategy sometimes referred to as "purchase of development rights," or PDR. Unlike zoning and many other landuse protection tools, PDR provides permanent protection. HIGHLAND VALLEY FARM was the first farm selected for protection at Bayfield. Contact the 