With so much of our usual stone fruit getting frosted out in April, we’re really excited about the local blackberries we get from Hotchkiss, Colorado. Since 2015, we’ve bought every pound he grows. Below is a Photo Essay of our visit.
We were greeted by some new additions to the farm. Chickens, goats, ducks and roosters are now residents at the farm.
I was thrilled to bring my family up as both my boys are able and extremely willing to gorge themselves on berries. They’ve never visited a farm with me before. This was a visit I’ll never forget.
We talked with Steve and learned how the April frost affected even his crop. The cold didn’t harm the fruit as it hadn’t budded yet, but it stunted the plant from putting out the fruit later in the season. In a good year we’d get 4,000 pounds. This year we’ll be lucky to get half that. We’re thankful for anything!
In a normal year, they’d almost be done picking. This year everything is a couple weeks late, so there were many developing berries still ripening among the berries ready for harvest.
It’s hard to see past the delicious berries, but there was beauty all around.
It was fun to see how much natural insect life was present. They are so important and hardly recognized by non-farmers like us.
We’ll get what we get this year. Want to know the first beer we’ll make with the berries? Vanilla Jammy. Can’t come soon enough.
Cheers!