Berry Season Winding Down
Berry season is flying by and the blackberries will be gone before we know it. They have been so pretty this year and I know that all of you who have picked them are really enjoying them.
We will have more of the gallon bags of fresh blueberries for you to take home this week. These blueberries are from E. Texas and have really been good.
Fourth Annual Red, White and Blueberry Festival
  This Saturday is not only the 4th of July but it is also our Red, White and Blueberry Festival for the benefit of our Sadler Volunteer Fire Department. All of you have been so wonderfully supportive in years past and I know that you will continue to be this year. The firemen will be serving barbecue sandwiches, hot dogs, sausage-on-a-stick, my famous charro beans, cold drinks and our blueberry lemonade. Every penny that you spend with them this Saturday is going to new bunker gear. What they use now is very old and not in good shape – so please be generous.
Blockbuster Entertainment on Hand for Festival
 R. W. and Lenda High will have their miniature donkeys here for the children to see and to pet.
Shanna Gallinoto, owner of Twisted Notes Karaoke, will be performing for you. Dennards Farm and Ranch Store out of Whitesboro are donating their bounce house for the day for the enjoyment of the children.
Hay Rides All Day
 Pearce has fixed up the tractor to pull our trailer and give “hay rides”. He is really enjoying this. He takes everyone down by the pond to feed the fish and the children seem to have fun calling “here kitty, here kitty” and seeing the catfish come up to feed. We did have a little accident when the ball broke off of the tractor and the wagon dropped to the ground. A couple of the children were scared but (certainly) not hurt. It’s fixed now and we are again giving hay rides.
 Remember – we are open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 2 pm. You need to be here at 9 am for the blackberries. The ripe ones are usually picked out by 11:00 to 11:30 am every day. Remember also that Breakfast starts at 8:30 am and Lunch starts at 11:00 am. 
And, since we are only open those 5 days, it follows that we are CLOSED every Monday and Friday!
 Just a reminder….. Bailey’s Berry Patch is our home and all of you are our invited guests. If you “angle” park on the side of our yard, please back up when you leave rather than pull across the lawn. Our irrigation system is underground and the PVC pipes can’t take being run over without breaking.
One other reminder…. We have a sign that reads “We welcome families with children and we love to see kids having fun under the watchful eye of a caring parent. I know that all of you are wondering why I put this in a newsletter – well….As most of you know, we book special groups on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We charge a small fee per child and I use one or two of our associates to help with the group while the children are picking. Four or five years ago I had a Cub Scout troop come out.  There was no controlling the boys and it was such a relief when they left. I thought that I would never have another group to top this one…. but I did. I had a group out here last Thursday that topped the cub scouts. It was a group of young mothers with 10 – 12 very young children (who probably didn’t need to be out in the 100+ degree heat anyway). I had one of our associates helping them and the first problem came up when a mother with a (probably) 6 week old baby asked her to hold the baby so that the mother could pick berries. This is a NO – NO. We are not babysitters. Once they got thru picking berries, everyone came up to the barn to have a picnic. For the next 1 ½ hours (it seemed like 10 hours), the mothers visited while the children ran wild. One of the mothers was on her cell phone the whole time. I prayed that her phone battery would go dead so that maybe she would watch her children. No such luck. Finally, I went over to her (still on her phone) and told her that her children were all over the place and that she needed to watch them. Well – that fix only lasted about 15 minutes and she was back on the phone again. Finally, I went up to another mother and said to her “you’all have got to watch your children”. Guess what she said to me – “I know that we do”. Well duh!!! I finally had to run to the big fan that is next to our picnic tables and get 6 of them off of the front and back of the fan. One child was even climbing the pole trying to get to the electrical outlet. With that I finally asked them to leave. (But it still took them another 15 minutes). I truly believe that 99.9% of the time, incidences like this are caused by the parents and not by the children.
 I don’t ask people to leave very often but I will in a heartbeat if there is a problem. Especially where the safety and well being of an unsupervised child is at stake! After all, I AM THE SHERIFF in these parts!
Whew!!!! I feel better.
Now I want to share an email that that we received this week. The gentleman who wrote it asked me to print it in my next newsletter – so here it is…
Hello –
I know your place is for sale but I think the reason it hasn’t sold is because Nature or Providence or Cosmic Forces are preventing it. No one could do as good a job as you all do. What a great place to come. The atmosphere is pleasant; the people are nice, people from all walks of life and families with their little ones, and the little voices coming through the bushes.
Oh, and the berries, too!!
Of course, I don’t know what your situation is – health-wise, money-wise, and it is not my business. For your sakes, I wish you luck selling it. For the rest of the world, I hope you can continue for at least a few more years.
We have a wonderful time coming to your place, and even though the heat can make a lot of folks crabby, we just wanted to let you know how very much appreciated you are.
A lot of times we don’t take stock of what we have until it’s too late. I really wish you would consider patting yourselves on the back and publishing this little note along with one of your newsletters – without my e-mail address, of course!!
Joe
I asked my better half to critique this – she pointed out that it is a nice Christian atmosphere – something that is not commonly seen these days.”
For everyone’s information, the reason that Bailey’s Berry Patch is for sale is that this hobby (?) has outgrown us. Pearce will be 78 in September and I had cancer last year. It is just time for us to slow down.
Now a couple of quick notes
 On Saturday, June 20th Carroll Winkle was out here with his two miniature ponies. He brought a cart with him and pulled children and adults around The Berry Patch. If any of you might like for him to visit your event his phone number is (903) 965-0329.
Yes – I do give out my recipe for the blueberry lemonade. Our base is the Countrytime Lemonade dry mix with a little extra sugar added. Then we add pure blueberry juice to taste. I have a commercial juicer and have quarts of blueberry juice for sale for $15 each and they are going fast.
 Now to sign off and give you two more recipes for your collection. Here are the recipes for a Blackberry Swirl Pie and for Coconut-Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. Enjoy!!
(Click here or on the "Lady Chef" for recipes.)
Stay cool –
Ann Bailey
The Berry Lady
P. S. Watch our web site for the closing date. We are not sure yet when it is going to be.
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