The Perfect Little Gift

Aren't they adorable?  Local, unique, healthy, flavorful, and just the right size to fit in a little gift bag for everyone on your list...teachers, co-workers, friends, extended family members... all those people you want to treat with a perfect little something special. 

$5.00/jar or buy 10 get 2 free

Call (320)967-4718
or e-mail brberries@gmail.com

I am in Renville, Clara City, and Willmar weekly, and if you live within those areas, I will deliver right to your home if you order 4 or more jars.  That's four gifts taken care of just as the holiday season is starting!


Strawberry:  The fabulous taste of  MN strawberries is captured in these preserves made from strawberries fresh from our field.  We use calcium instead of sugar to thicken our preserves, so every bite is bursting with health and flavor.  Mix it with yogurt, top off your ice cream, or slather it on your toast, waffles, muffins or scones.

Strawberry-Cranberry:Tart cranberries add a tangy explosion to these flavorful preserves that will cause your sun-starved salivary glands to kick into high gear.  Set this on your Thanksgiving or Christmas buffet table as a fun alternative  to plain cranberry sauce.  Use after the party on turkey sandwiches, roasted or baked turkey, roasted or grilled vegetables, tossed into a salad, or on toast. 

Grandma’s Sweet Strawberry:  Summer delight is captured in this old-fashioned recipe for strawberry jam just like

Grandma used to make it. Mix it with yogurt, top off your ice cream, or spread it on your toast. 

Strawberry-Jalapeno: Try some ‘heat with the sweet’ on your grilled meat, or tease your taste buds with crackers, cream cheese, and our Strawberry-Jalapeno Preserves!  Spoon it over salmon or chicken and oven bake it. Brush it over fish or meats as a glaze just before pulling it off the grill. Spread it over a block of soft goat cheese as an appetizer.  Slip it into a grilled cheese sandwich and call it a Jamwich. Set it out at a party by a bowl of pretzels. Not overly hot; this combo is formulated for Northerners:)

Strawberry-Rhubarb Tangy on your taste-buds, this delightful combination is only for people who grew up in the North and have developed a taste for the piquancy of rhubarb!  Spread it on toast, top off a waffle, or eat it straight out of the jar for a trip down memory lane.

Strawberry-Chocolate: Creamy and rich, the chocolate enhances the strawberry to a burst of satisfying flavor.  Use as an ice-cream topping, dessert spread, or on anything you eat for breakfast, just so that you can start your day in a healthy way, with chocolate.

Jammin' Time

Are you starting to think about Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations?  Are you racking your brain for fabulous gifts and party food ideas?  Look no further, Brouwer Berries' jams and preserves will delight your friends and family, and enhance your holiday parties in a uniquely flavorful way!

You can benefit from the fun I had this fall experimenting with new recipes, and filling dozens of jars with pure strawberry jam and interesting strawberry combinations.  I use only Pomona's Universal Pectin, so each jar has a minimum of sugar, allowing the flavors of the fruit to burst forth exquisitely.  The ingredient list on each jar tells the story -- except for Grandma's Sweet Strawberry, every jar has more fruit than sugar.

I'll be at the Clara City Craft Sale on Saturday, November 2, from 9-4, with samples of each kind.    You can get individual jars for $5.00 each, or buy 10, get 2 free, of mix 'n match flavors. 

Strawberry:  The fabulous taste of  MN strawberries is captured in these preserves made from strawberries fresh from our field.  We use calcium instead of sugar to thicken our preserves, so every bite is bursting with health and flavor.  Mix it with yogurt, top off your ice cream, or slather it on your toast, waffles, muffins or scones.

Strawberry-Cranberry:Tart cranberries add a tangy explosion to these flavorful preserves that will cause your sun-starved salivary glands to kick into high gear.  Set this on your Thanksgiving or Christmas buffet table as a fun alternative  to plain cranberry sauce.  Use after the party on turkey sandwiches, roasted or baked turkey, roasted or grilled vegetables, tossed into a salad, or on toast. 

Grandma’s Sweet Strawberry:  Summer delight is captured in this old-fashioned recipe for strawberry jam just like

Grandma used to make it. Mix it with yogurt, top off your ice cream, or spread it on your toast. 

Strawberry-Jalapeno: Try some ‘heat with the sweet’ on your grilled meat, or tease your taste buds with crackers, cream cheese, and our Strawberry-Jalapeno Preserves!  Spoon it over mahi-mahi, swordfish or chicken and oven bake it. Melt it and brush it over fish or meats as a glaze just before pulling it off the grill. Spoon it over a block of soft goat cheese as an appetizer.  Make it into a grilled cheese sandwich and call it a Jamwich. You may not want to spread this jam on your morning toast or drizzle it over a buttered biscuit. Then again, you may:)

Strawberry-Rhubarb Tangy on your taste-buds, this delightful combination is only for people who grew up in the North and have developed a taste for the piquancy of rhubarb!  Spread it on toast, top off a waffle, or eat it straight out of the jar for a trip down memory lane.

Strawberry-Chocolate: Creamy and rich, the chocolate enhances the strawberry to a burst of satisfying flavor.  Use as an ice-cream topping, dessert spread, or on anything you eat for breakfast, just so that you can start your day in a healthy way, with chocolate. 

Strawberry-Peach: Sweet, juicy peaches mingle with the strawberries in this delicious concoction, while a hint of cinnamon kicks up the flavor factor to a fantastic level. Delectable!  This recipe has so little sugar that it could practically be eaten straight out of the jar and called a fruit serving!

Raspberry: Delight your senses with a taste of our fantastic, raspberry spread.  Rich and tangy with a perfect balance of sweetness, it enhances everything from toast to ice cream to poultry to pork. 

The End of a Wonderful Season

One of our irrigation ponds.  Lots of fun for the family!

A few hours of weeding out in the heat today were quite relaxing.  It is so peaceful to hear the gurgle of the drip irrigation on one side, the whirr of the overhead irrigation on the other side, and the laughter of the children as they run through the sprinklers on the way to the irrigation pond for a swim.

What a change from the hectic pace of the strawberry harvest!  As every farmer knows,  harvest time is intense, and fraught with challenges.  Equipment, labor, and weather all have to work in harmony.  Add to that the variability of a U-pick farm, and all of your complex schedules, it is amazing how it all works out.

U-picking mother & daughter in-laws

Thank-you, thank-you, and thank-you, to everyone who came to our farm this year to participate in the harvest in some way.  Some of you picked your own, some of you brought children and grandchildren to learn about the harvest, some of you let us hire your teens as employees, and some of you made it possible for those teens to have a summer job by buying pre-picked berries.

Baby strawberry plants getting ready for the 2014 harvest.

Thank-you so much for checking the website, and arranging your schedules to get here when we were open.  Each year, we plant more strawberries, in the hopes that we will be able to stay open longer so as to be more convenient for you.  Last year we had only one acre, and this year, we had two acres.  We planted enough baby strawberry plants this spring so that next year we should have four acres of strawberries from which to pick. 

If you are on this mailing list, I'll alert you to the start of the strawberry season next summer.  If you have children or grandchildren who really want to come back to the farm for a visit, and can't wait until next summer, send me an e-mail, and we'll try arrange something. 

Enjoying the decorative duck pond by the driveway

U-pickers come in all ages

Teen employees

Strawberry patio

My mom flew in from Ontario to help us out.

My kids on the strawberry wagon

I think it was a tie, and since I'm the blogger, I get the last word:)

Dan and I were just speechless with amazement on Saturday to see all the people who came out after I sent out my e-mail and Facebook plea.  It was awesome.

Thank-you and thank-you and thank-you to all the people who responded.   We run a strawberry farm, and we could pretend that we are in control of our business, but we aren't.  We can control neither supply -- which is weather dependent, nor demand, which is people's schedules dependent.  All we can do is try to make the two meet in the middle. 

At the end of the day, we had 3 unsold flats, and maybe 3 unpicked rows of berries.  Since this has never happened before, Dan thinks he won, but I say it was a tie, because it is better to have a bit left over so that we know that everyone who wanted some, was able to get some, and for once we didn't have to turn people away.  Again, THANK-YOU...and keep coming.  We'll have berries the rest of this week, but after that they may stop producing as it gets too hot, so get them while you can. 

Does Dan Win?

This is it! The season is peaking!  All rows are producing, and we are pulling incredible strawberries out of the field incredibly quickly this morning.  Dan and I have a running contest going to see if he can grow more strawberries than I can sell.  He is feeling pretty smug right now -- thinks he's done it for the first time in 14 years.  I say, 'the day isn't done yet:)'

U-Pick: We need an army of pickers, though!  The wind has blown away the mosquitoes, the sky is overcast so it is not too hot, and it is simply lovely out in the strawberry patch.  Bring a stack of buckets and a camera to show off the fruits of your labor.

Pre-Picked: We also have a lot of extra flats of our incredible variety, Jewel, this morning if you want to pick some up to take them out to the lake.  Call (320)967-4718 or just stop in. 

after the 4th of July

Look at what I picked for the CMCS silent auction!

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July holiday.  The strawberries did.  The queen and her court all got down to the serious business of ripening.  All but one of our later season varieties are now ripe and ready for the plucking. Tomorrow there will be fantastic strawberries for you. 

Pre-Picked: We will have a lot of extra strawberry flats tomorrow thanks to all this ripening, so you may call or e-mail to place an order.  We're also taking orders for Saturday and any day next week.

U-Pick Friday: We open at 8 am, I'll post on the website when/if we are sold out for the day.  I don't know yet about Saturday -- things are ripening every time I turn around -- like watching kids grow up -- who can keep track?  I'll post on the website as soon as I know, though, so keep a weather eye on www.brouwerberries.com.

Thanks, Sarah 

Opened for U-Picking

Hello, from Berry Bonanzaville

We pulled a lot more strawberries out of the field the past three days than we anticipated, which bodes well for the next few weeks.  It is so wonderful to see those heavy blossom packs, and the berries swelling with juice from all the moisture we've been receiving. 

Pre-picked:
We are taking orders for Monday-Saturday, for the first three weeks of July.  Just let us know the day you want them, and we'll get them ready for you.  You can call (320)967-4718, e-mail brberries@gmail.com or Facebook Brouwer Berries your order. 

U-Pick:

This was it...drum roll... we opened for U-picking at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.   I wish I'd taken a picture of all the eager and happy pickers that rolled into our yard in the middle of a brief rainstorm at 7:30 on Saturday morning.  My  husband hasn't been able to stop raving about everyone's great attitude, even as they all got soaked.  We tried to tell people the rain would pass, but they were so impatient to get their hands on the berries that they just took off into the field.  We were able to stay open for U-picking until 10:20, which was great.  It is so wonderful that the fields are producing so well so that there will be enough berries for everyone who wants them.  

 

We plan to be open for U-picking Monday - Saturday the first three weeks of July.  I'll post on the website as soon as we are picked out.  We're only picking out of a 3rd of the field yet, and there will be more queen berries the next few weeks as later varieties ripen.  I will also post plans for future days on the website as soon as I know them, so keep an eye on the website homepage, www.brouwerberries.com

Free Farm Visit:

We love children, and children love it here. If you are picking up a flat of berries, or picking your own, plan for some extra time with your children or grandchildren to visit our little critters.  The children can go right into the cage with the bunnies.  They can watch the waterfall and the goldfish and the ducks in the pond.  They can try hunt down the free range banty hens and the little flock of chicks that follows one of the hens.  You can admire my gazillion perennial gardens that I inherited from my mother-in-law, and you can place bets on how long I'll be able to maintain them:) 

Strawberry pricing and purchasing details

One Flat = @10#  = $35.00

Hello!

We've been pruning and sprucing up, and the farm is beautiful and ready to welcome you... almost!

Pre-Picked:

If you'd like your berries picked for you, we will have about 10 flats available Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  The strawberries are amazing this year -- enormous and sweet. You may call or e-mail to reserve one of those flats for yourself, first come first served.  Flats will be ready by 10 am, and you can pick them up anytime before dark once your name is on it.  A flat has about 10#, and is $35.00.  I'll e-mail you back to confirm we have a flat for you. You may also place orders for any day in the next three weeks.  I'd recommend reserving flats as soon as possible around the 4th of July. 

U-pick:

We will open either Saturday or Monday for U-picking.  The berry packs look incredible, and there will be fabulous picking.  We have six different varieties this year, which will ripen progressively.  U-pick is $1.65/#.  Please bring your own containers, such as ice cream buckets.  We will weigh your containers for you before you go out to the field. 

U-Pick is first come, first served.  We do not make appointments.  We open at 8 am, and close when we are picked out for the day.  As soon as we are sold out, I will post it on the website, so please check www.brouwerberries.com for current picking conditions. 

Markets:

We will only be able to take strawberries to the markets if we do not sell out at the farm. Thank-you for your understanding. 

Looking forward to welcoming you to our farm,

Sarah
 U-Pick:
 Ice cream buckets would be $8-$10 each, depending on how full they are piled. 

The Fight with the Dragon

The Dragon Whose Name is Lamb's Quarter

In the heat and humidity of the week, I took out an army of fearless teens.  We wore our battle armor -- gardening gloves -- and fought a great fight with the dragon weed whose name is Lamb's Quarter.  Lamb's Quarter, considered edible by some, is our mortal enemy, but we were strong and brave, and we hunted him down until he cried for mercy.  Now, he lies in the hot sun, gasping, and we reign triumphant in the shade, sipping well-earned iced tea. 

The Queen strawberries have rewarded us, their faithful courtiers, by showing some red! My kids collected a handful this morning, and we think we will be able to bid you welcome to our Kingdom of Strawberries July 1, or possibly late next week, to collect the jewels of the realm:)

From the Captain of the Infantry,

Sarah

Finally -- blossoms!

It's been a long, drawn-out spring, but with today's Sunday sunshine, the blossoms finally dared peek out.  Throughout the day, they have stretched out their necks, and are now joyously stretching up to the warmth for which we've all been waiting.

These are Annapolis, our earliest bearing variety.  Typically, we lose most of our Annapolis to a late frost, but that shouldn't happen this year:)  We are so encouraged to see such large blossoms, and such heavy blossom packs.  It looks like the Annapolis will do very well this year.  Mmmmm.....

Dan is examining the flowers for insect pests and pollinators.  We need the one, we have to watch for the other.  He breathes on the flowers, and the warmth of his breath causes the insects to go into a flurry of activity.  Most pests and pollinators are so tiny that we can only see them as black specs, but Dan has learned to identify them by their behaviour. 

Typically, Dan is pessimistic about the plants -- "Yeah, maybe three made it through the winter....maybe we'll get at least one flat of berries for ourselves..." he'll say to me.  Today, he couldn't help the light in his eyes as we looked at the blossoms covering the field.  Blossoms on plants that survived ten weeks without rain last summer, blossoms on plants that survived the January melt and the winds that bore down on the bared plants, blossoms that survived the late spring.  Praise God for these blossoms!

Ever wonder about the weeds?  There's no magic bullet.  Dan weeds every night after putting in a full day on his construction job.  Sometimes, I join him.  We call it date night:) 

Spring planting 2013

Spring planting the past few weeks has been a hopping challenge.  It was such a relief to get all those strawberry plants in the ground -- 26,000 of them -- and then to let the rain come down.  Now, the field is full of little plants poking their heads out of the ground.  Here are some pictures of planting:

The white barrels contain a water/nutrient mix that is added to the plants as they are plugged into the ground.

The two girls alternate placing the bare root plants into the pincers.

The roll of black tape is for drip irrigation.  It is installed in the soil as the plants are plugged into the ground.  Drip irrigation conserves water.  Moving from overhead irrigation to drip has allowed us to double our planting area without increasing our water usage.

The kids take turns on the planting machine -- here they are on break!

Starting the drip tape installation.

The last plant!

Hooray! Lets celebrate the end of planting with a pontoon ride on our new irrigation pond!

Good job guys!

Tapping Trees at Brouwer Berries

With all the April snow, Dan can't get into the strawberry field, but he never has trouble finding projects to entertain himself on the farm.  If you've ever walked through our grove to the strawberry patch, you may have noticed the rows of maple trees. He's tapped five of them, and managed to collect over 30 gallons of sap! 

At first, he tried boiling the sap down in our house, but at a ratio of 60 gallons sap to 1 gallon syrup, my windows were getting pretty steamy:)  So, he rooted around in the old red barn, and found an old wood furnace to re-purpose, and created this set-up:

Do you see the old pressure canner on top of the furnace, and the steam rising?  He's kept this boiling on and off all week now, and about once a day he's brought in one pint jar of syrup for us:

I'm a Canadian, I love this stuff -- and no -- it's not for sale:) 

The Land and the Homeschool Vision

5 Brouwer children holding the first strawberries of 2012 

My oldest son is in the process of applying to a 2 week USDA internship program at Iowa State.  I'm hoping he gets it, but I'm also hoping the strawberry season is early, so that he is still around during the season.  We depend on him! Here's part of his application essay, which is just a wonderful glimpse into why we homeschool, and why running a strawberry farm is part of our homeschool vision, and our vision for the land upon which we are raising our children:

"My family owns and operates a pick-your-own strawberry farm.  I’ve been a part of every aspect of the business from the time I was five years old.  Just this year we expanded from 1.5 acres to just about 5 acres.  Our single irrigation pond would not provide enough water for all our plants so we switched from overhead irrigation to drip tape. Drip tape runs underground through the roots of the plants so it helps conserve our water.  Our farm contributes to the biodiversity of our landscape.  We are located right in the middle the corn belt, so a lot of corn, soybeans, and sugar beets are grown around us which limits the amount of wildlife that can successfully live in our area.  However with our strawberry farm active the past years we have seen an increase in new insects that originally could not survive in our area such as fireflies.  With just our five acre farm we have the largest grouping of fireflies in the summer than any other area near us.  On a warm summer night, our lawn and small slough light up with millions of fireflies rising from the ground."

Wow.  I love reading that kind of thing from my son.  He gets it!   I hope the people at the USDA get what a great kid he is, and how he'd be a perfect fit for their program:)