The Berry Patch
Country living at its best. 

The Berry Patch is a combination of an established agritourism business with a capacity to earn a GREAT living and comfortable country living all rolled into one. 

The home is a custom designed house built in 1998 with a wonderful open floor plan.  Storage is everywhere in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath configuration with 1868 square feet of actual living space.  Home has spacious 8' x 40' covered back porch for outdoor entertaining.  The Western/Southwest decor includes metal work and cedar posts in great room and kitchen area.  The Master bedroom/bath area includes metal work used for bathroom hardware.  Fans throughout the home reflect this same theme of interior decorations.  This home was originally built for energy savings and ease of care.  This includes extra insulation, central heat and air, manablock water system.  Living area includes a vented pellet stove that will heat sufficiently when the central heat in not used.

The "Farm" is comprised of a total of 15.378 acres, a ½+/- ac. stocked Lake, a  315 ft. deep well, 5- 1/2 acres of  blueberries, 3-1/2 acres of blackberries, 180 fruit trees, 67 shade/ornamental trees.  The 30,000+ linear feet irrigation system has 7 automatic valves that cover 8 of the 11 sections. 

The out buildings include a 3075 sq. ft. metal building with a 12' x 14' paneled, air conditioned office, a 12' x 14' sealed storage room, 3 restrooms ( one with a shower and hot water system), and a large,  covered space that serves as the Country Store, vendors area, and berry cleaning area.  A metal shed with RV hook up (gravel floor) is 18' x 40' x 12'.  A 10' x 16' x 8' portable building with a metal roof is used to house tools and chemicals.  This building is sealed and can be kept locked.  A 10' x 19' x 8'  "old west salon" on a concrete slab sits behind the house and is used as an entertainment area , as well as, a picture taking opportunity during the times that Bailey's Berry Patch is open to the public. 

In additions to everything listed above, the farm has three 8' x 10' concrete pads for picnic tables, 2 flag poles and a 40' x 60' fenced garden with a total of ten  4' x 8' irrigated raised beds.

Bailey's Berry Patch is currently open 7 weeks during berry season. The first of the blackberries are usually ready for picking around the first of June and the blueberries begin ripening around 10 days later. The Berry Patch has both thorned and “no” thorned varieties of blackberries. Pearce and Ann Bailey keep the Patch open on a schedule of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The majority of the berries are sold as u-pick berries during the season and are picked by the people who come to the farm. Occasionally blueberries are purchased from an East Texas farm in order to provide “already picked berries” on the Saturdays in June. The balance of the fruit that ripens during berry season is picked by the Berry Patch employees and sold during normal working hours.

The Berry Patch also has a variety of other farm raised fruits. Depending upon the timing of the last freeze of the year, you should be able to find Mayhaws available in May. These tiny berries make the best syrup and jelly that you have ever put in your mouth. Some of the Berry Patch special fruits include several varieties of plums, pulots and apriums.  Pulots are a cross of a plum and an apricot. These are crisp like a plum but sweet like an apricot. Apriums are a cross between an apricot and a plum. These are a softer fruit with a slightly tart taste.

Additionally, the first crop of persimmons became available in the fall of 2007. These beautiful orange jewels are picked by the Bailey's and are sold on a "by order" basis only. Half of the persimmon trees are the non-astringent oriental and half of the American variety. Both are certainly wonderful.

The Country Store, both at the farm and on the web site, sells 65+ different preserves, salsas, pickles, syrups and cobblers.  During berry season, the items are sold to the many pickers and families who visit the farm.  During other times, these same items are sold thru a number of outlets including Lavender Ridge Farms, Wintergreen Farms, the Gordonville Store and the txberry.com web site.  Products sold thru the internet are limited to the continental United States. 

The trade name, entire website and email list will all be included along with the property.  Ann sends out approximately 14 to 16 newsletters per year to a large number subscribers.  The subscribers are customers who have gone to the website at www.TxBerry.com and signed up to receive the email newsletters.

The email newsletter distribution list has grown to over 3000 subscribers as of the end of the 2008 season. The newsletters are emailed out to many other friends, families, and companies.   With the exception of the local Sherman newspaper, no money is spent on advertising.  The email newsletters, along with the many feature stories that run in everything from newspapers to magazines to television broadcasts, bring in the crowds of people that regularly come to the Berry Patch all season long. 

Because of its convenient location with easy access to major highways, the customer base for the Berry Patch is approximately 6,000,000 and covers the area from the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area all the way north to Oklahoma City. 

Also Included in the sale of the Berry Patch is all of the farm and harvest equipment, the shop and much of the shop equipment, all of the restaurant equipment for the new food service area, all of the office equipment, the yard tools, and other miscellaneous items such as canopies, reach-in coolers, freezers, all chemicals, parts, and Country Store inventory.

Bailey's Berry Patch is a considered to be a "destination farm".  That means that a number of the customers are families who come out to spend time on the farm...not just to pick berries; but to enjoy a day in the country picnicking, feeding the catfish in the pond and enjoying the vendors who come out to the farm with show and sell their wares.  Saturday's are the busiest day of each week.  Food, entertainment and vendors, plus the wonderful berries bring out as many as 2,000 people in a day.  The way that everything is set up now takes as many as 11 people to work on a given day. 

Bailey’s Berry Patch has decided to take advantage of a previously undeveloped opportunity and open their own kitchen for 2009. Food will be sold and served from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day that the “Patch” is open. Breakfast will be served until 10 a.m. and lunch will be served after that.

Other special programs will be explored in the 2009 season.  Beginning in March the Patch will be open one Saturday each month with a series of innovative programs. Among the first programs for 2009 will be on the basics of gardening and enjoying home grown vegetables and herbs.  This will be followed with programs in April on canning, freezing and preserving locally grown vegetables and fruit.

Bailey's Berry Patch was started as a hobby.  It has grown beyond the Bailey's wildest imagination and needs to continue growing.  There are tremendous areas of opportunity that have still not yet been addressed.  These could (but are not limited to) include birthday parties, corporate picnics and events, fall and spring special events and festivals and on and on.  Because of their age and some health problems, they need to turn this over to a new owner.  That person needs to be creative and truly enjoy people.  This has been a wonderful (and successful) experience for Pearce and Ann and they will be happy to work with the new owners for (at least) the first year so that they won't make the same mistakes that they made and learned from.

If you or someone that you know might be interest in this fabulous place, call Pearce or Ann at (903) 564-6228 or (903) 436-0235 and we will be happy to answer questions you may have and provide you with additional information.      

This property is currently not listed with a real estate agent and is priced accordingly.

To learn more about the operation and offerings of the Berry Patch, please browse our web site and see the many facets of this wonderful and exciting venture.