2009 picking season delayed ...
June 1st is not far away and summer will be right behind it. Lake Texoma is still so cold (63 degrees) that very few people went in swimming over Memorial Day. There were lots of boaters but no one wanted to get wet. The weather has been so cool and rainy this year that all of the berries are slower to get ripe than normal. We are expecting to open for blackberry picking beginning June 6th. That is a week from Saturday.
Spring programs a success - weather permitting...
  We have had a "fun" spring. We decided to have a special program in March, April and then this past month. We had a gardening program on March 28th. The weather had been beautiful just before that ….. on the day of our program, the wind was blowing 45 miles an hour and the temperature was about 40 degrees. We had lots of people there and tried to protect them with tarps, quilts and everything else we could find. Most of the people left after lunch and missed the program on herbs, but I don’t blame them -
We had icicles hanging from our noses.
 We had a program on canning, preserving, pickling, freezing and drying fruits and vegetables on April 18th. Even though I have been canning for years, there was a number of things that I learned that day. We had about 20 people here and everyone seemed to enjoy the program and took home plenty of handouts.
 Last Saturday, May 23rd, was our "Beyond the Blueberry Muffin" cooking demonstration. We had 25 people here for my first attempt at hosting a food demonstration program. I was fortunate to have a wonderful assistant by the name of Susan Ellingburg – a great cook from McKinney. By the time that everyone left here at 2 pm, they were overloaded with blueberry “stuff”. We started the day by enjoying a wonderful Blueberry Sausage Bake. I had already made a Blueberry Vinaigrette made with Blueberry Vinegar and a Blueberry Chutney made with orange zest and whole berry cranberry sauce. After breakfast, Susan and I made two salsas (more like berry pico de gallo).  One was a Blueberry-Blackberry Salsa and one was a Blueberry-Strawberry Salsa. No tomatoes in them….but lots on onions, cilantro and jalapeños. We went on then to make 4 sauces. One was a BBQ sauce made with roasted bananas, coffee and hot peppers – plus lots of other things. There were 3 salads and a dessert. Pearce grilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts and a whole pork tenderloin. All of the meat was served with the sauces, etc.
 The last dish that was made was called "Blueberry Burgers"….Yes – hamburgers made with blueberries in them. We made them into "sliders" and served them with the normal lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc. Whew!!!!
We have a few of our recipe folders left, if you want one just send me $7.50 and I will be glad to mail one to you...
 This Friday, I have to talk to the all of the 2nd grade students of a Sherman grade school at their annual picnic. I have been asked to talk on gardening. It should be fun.
We expect berry season to start on June 6th. There is going to be a good blackberry crop this year. The bushes are loaded and everyone should have a good time.
Crop Failures
 I don’t have good news about our blueberries. As many of you know, there was a late freeze/frost on April 7th – just before Easter. Everything, but the blackberries, was in full bloom. We knew that we had lost all of the plums, pulots, peaches, nectarines, crab apples and apricots for the year. What we didn’t realize was that the blueberries had been damaged. They had already lost their blooms and the fruit was set. The bushes were loaded with berries. Everything seemed fine until April 29th when we had 7 ½ inches of rain that day and about 80% of the blueberries just washed off of the bushes. Because it just kept raining and raining, Pearce didn’t discover the damage until the next Tuesday, May 5th, when he was out checking the fields and found the blueberries on the ground. The rows just behind the barn still have some blueberries but the closer to the pond that you get, the fewer berries you’ll find.
 For the second time in 4 years, we are making Blueberry Lemonade out of the Lemons!
So - the GOOD news is -
We now have our freezers full of gallons of frozen berries for you to take home with you for $20 each. We are also preparing to get a big supply of fresh berries from two of our friends in East Texas. We won’t know the price until next week when these two growers will let us know the cost. They should be somewhere between $22 and $25 per gallon. Because of the increase in labor, etc., (as all of you know) the price of everything has gone up.
The blackberries will be $14 per bucket ( a little over a gallon) this year. The preserves have gone up – most of the time just 50 cents a jar, however some over $1 and others are out of sight. Our producer is not going to have either of the raspberry preserves or the Classic Berry Trio this season because their raspberry source has raised the price of their fruit to the point that they cannot make the products and sell them for any reasonable price.
Watch our website for opening day
I will have a headline posted on our web site (txberry.com) that gives you the actual opening date. Here are some important things to remember -
- We are expecting it to be on Saturday, June 6th.
- We will have both fresh and frozen bags of blueberries when we open.
- While you are on our web site, look at the calendar page. We are adding more to it every week.
- Even without our own blueberries, we are going to have lots of fun.
- You or your family should plan on eating breakfast or lunch with us while you are here. I think that you will enjoy everything that we offer.
Change of hours this year
 Because we are short of blueberries this year, we are going to change our hours. Please make a note of this and pass it on to your friends.
We are going to be open on all or our
normal days –
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday….
We are changing our hours to be from 9 am to 2 pm.
We will start serving breakfast at 8:30 am for those who get here early. I think that you will find the food both good and reasonable.
I know this is a long newsletter but I had a lot to tell you.
 Now here are your recipes for this newsletter -
There are some that are really special. I am sending you the recipe for Blackberry & White Chocolate Bars and Lemon-Blueberry Pudding Cake.
(Click HERE or on 'Lady Chef' at left to link to recipes.)
See you soon –
Ann Bailey
The Berry Lady
P.S.
I have a big surprise for you. I will be selling quarts of blueberry juice for $15 a quart this year. Now you can make your own “blueberry lemonade”.
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