Let me try to make this as clear as possible:

All adults who want to pick this year MUST HAVE 2009 PICKING CARDS

In order to pick blueberries you must already have your 2009 picking card or come by the farm barnyard gardens today (Friday), Saturday or Sunday between 9 and 11 to [...]]]> Hello Friends of the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm!

Let me try to make this as clear as possible:

All adults who want to pick this year MUST HAVE 2009 PICKING CARDS

In order to pick blueberries you must already have your 2009 picking card or come by the farm barnyard gardens today (Friday), Saturday or Sunday between 9 and 11 to pledge to work your remaining hours, and receive your picking card. When you get it I will tell you how you can pick anytime during daylight hours. Please be out by sundown!

Please Bring:
Bags for berries
lots of drinking water
bug spray or long sleeves or both
If you would like to buy a watermelon or callaloo bring a few dollars or veggies to trade.
All the kids you can handle pick free!!!

PLEASE LEAVE PET FRIENDS AT HOME!

Wildlife recently spotted at the farm:
flying overhead: roseate spoonbills(2) flying in formation with 4 woodstorks!, eagles, swallow tailed kites, all kinds of hawks, osprey,birds of every feather!
bobcat, fox, family of Quail,rabbits, deer, waterfowl,alligator, turtles, otter sign and blooming native lotus on pond, berry fairies and blue faced elves!

So come and join the party!!! But dont get caught without your 2009 pickin card! After all, the berries are so much sweeter, when you know you are helping to save the farm, and give generations to come, the chance to pick too

Thanks and stay cool!
xoxox
maureen

Hope everyone is doing GREAT! I went to the Mountains with my family this week and got back late last night to find a welcome party of mosquitoes! Yay!

We went to camp at the trailhead at Snowbird Creek in Western N.C. – near some of the most amazing waterfalls [...]]]> Hi Friends of the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm!

Hope everyone is doing GREAT! I went to the Mountains with my family this week and got back late last night to find a welcome party of mosquitoes! Yay!

We went to camp at the trailhead at Snowbird Creek in Western N.C. – near some of the most amazing waterfalls Ive ever seen in my life(and Ive seen a few!). We learned from a fellow hiker that the only population in the world, of synchronous ( lighting up all at once) fireflies, outside of Japan, was nearby at the Joyce Kilmer memorial forest (Biggest trees in the east!) so of course we went to see the show! Incredible! Magic! A Must See! Got sore and cold and wet, hiking and camping, and loved every minute of it!

We are back today but leaving again tomorrow for the weekend.

But today at 6 I will be by the gardens to issue picking cards to those who have worked all their hours already(the Super Friends!), and so those who have worked all their hours from last year (or didnt pick last year), can sign pledges to work their remaining hours for this year, and get picking cards. I wil tell you where the best berries are and how you can pick them while I am away.

Those of you who havent completed your hours from last year will have to finish them before you can pick – fair is fair! Be warned – pickers will be carded!

Next week we will be having work parties Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 10am and 5pm. I will be by the barn with tools – you bring lots of water and long sleeves and gloves. Kids are welcome but as always please leave pet friends at home. Those with picking cards,or eligible to get picking cards(see above) can come by during those days between 10am and 10:30am, and between 5 and 5:30pm, and pick up your card and sign a pledge if need be, and I will tell you where the berries are, and how you can pick while we are not there.

Kenny has some beautiful and delicious yellow squash and zucchini, and maybe some peppers for sale and Mr Whiskey has calliloo and some watermelons, so bring a few dollars if you want to shop fresh produce from the farm(except for the watermelons – you’ll have to ask Mr. Whiskey Phillips where these were grown).

Hope to see you out at the farm!

maureen