The Sweet Cherries & Blueberries Ready Friday!
Orchard & Market Hours: Cherry Orchard & Blueberry Patch OPEN NOW 8AM-5PM
Weekly: Hours are Mon-Sat 8AM-5PM, Sun 1PM-5PM
Winery Hours: Sat 12PM-5PM, Sun 1PM-5PM
Life on the Farm: “691,200,000,000 kernels of corn”
Farms are entities that last beyond a single individual. It hit me when we were planting new peach trees that my Dad, who is 76 and works hard every day, might not see the end of these trees’ 20+ year life span.
The innovative grain elevator that he designed and built in 1968 or so, is finally at the end of its lifespan and is being redesigned, updated and replaced to move over 100,000 bushels of corn each year, TWICE – Once coming in from the field and once going out.
That means that the current grain elevator system has seen approximately 9,600,000 bushels of corn in its lifetime. If you think about it, each bushel has 72,000 kernels, so that’s 691,200,000,000 kernels of corn processed from our farm and a few of our neighbors.
Incredible, but even the mighty grain elevator has an end. My dad, during the quoting process, would ask each grain construction contractor if they offered a 50-year guarantee. – No one offered that!
In the next 50 years, who knows what trials may come, but for the foreseeable future, this farm continues to shift towards… YOU.
Pick your own has been our focus for, not just years, but for generations. My mom and dad started it, then I grew up in the orchards, my high school classmates brought all their young children to school tours, now I employ their kids and my own!
Maybe you are one of our guests who has brought your kids and grandkids to the farm to enjoy this fruitful place.
In any case, my Dad doesn’t stop planting trees simply because he might not see the end of their life, but he continues to work each day. Each day we’re working to build this farm, an entity that spans generations of our family, and of yours.
Billions of kernels flowing through the grain elevator are like billions of decisions made by the generations before us who have farmed this land. These decisions to get up in the morning and work until night aren’t always easy.
They include decisions to persevere when the going gets tough, when it rains on your plans or when the sun bakes the cornstalks.
Decisions to plant.
Decisions to uproot.
Decisions to get up.
Decisions to start the day looking for the best it has to offer.
Each is just a kernel.
See you soon on the farm,
Farmer Hugh
PS The Winery Tasting Room open every Sat 12-5PM & Sun 1PM-5PM.
