Picking time per gallon of blueberries is dropping rapidly. The blueberries are so sweet and just dripping from the bushes. It is peak of season and will remain at peak for 3 weeks or more. The Centurion berries are in! There is still Climax and Premier blueberries available. The Tifblue are just sumptuous! the Powderblue will start very soon. The Delites are ripening .... this is the variety that has a little more bite and a lot of people like it because of this. It also is the biggest blueberry and fills the bucket quickly.

Blackberries are slowing up some. We are still listing them as good in the morning to some in the afternoon. The Chester are started. This very prolific variety has lots of red berries that ripen over a long period of time. Many people don't see the ripe berries for the red berries but they are there! There is still some Kiowa down low and up high. The Chickasaw are doing it but will gone soon!

We started picking a few elderberries today.

The primo cane red raspberry crop will start soon --- a week? ---

Figs still look like 2 weeks away.

Picking contest winners for week Two:
Tied for first place were Connie Lee and Bill Hill with 9.777 pounds per hour.
In second place was Was the A. C. Roger family with 8.325 pounds per hour
In third place was the Dinger team with 7.999 pounds per hour
In the Volume category the Burgess Team from Asheville won first prize with 68.75 pounds.
In Second Place were the Dinger's again with 48 lb.
And in third place was the A. C. Rogers Family with 43 pounds.

Congratulations to all our winners! The grand Prize keeps growing with contributions from our neighboring farms. Come join in the contest. It is lots of fun.

Greetings from the Happy Berry,

It is peak of season for blueberries. They are everywhere! The rain has been great! It is like $500 bills from heaven. The berries are so plump and juicy. The foliage is lush and just pumping sugar into the berries. We hate that the rain is causing everyone else so much trouble. The only problem we see is that it is chasing the pickers out of field every now and then. If you want to know what weather is happening at the Happy Berry at the moment and coming at us go to our web site www.thehappyberry.com and click on the "current conditions" button and then "Storm Movement". Then click on the "base reflectivity loop". Weather radar will come up. We are due west of the radar tower at the Pickens County/Oconee County line. You will be able to see storm movement, what is happening at the moment and what is coming at us.

Dennis and Christine Dinger win first prize in the pounds per hour category with 13.7 pounds per hour/per person. They picked 48 Pounds in 105 minutes. Congratulations Dennis and Christine. Second and third place went Bill Hill and Tracy Towel. The 48 Pounds also brought the Dinger's first place in the volume category, In second place was Candy, Norm , Arlyn and Tammy Jimison with 46 pounds. Bill Hill and Tracy and Amy Towel were tied for third place in the volume category. The contest continues this week and next. There will be 2 Grand prizes at the end of the three weeks that are really nice with produce (pumpkins, peaches, apples, Christmas wreaths, and honey as gifts certificates, from area farms and a basket of goodies from the Specialty Products Association not counting what The happy Berry will add to the Grand Prize. Have fun and participate in the contest. There are lots of Happy Berry "T" shirts and hats to win and lots of free berries. The picking conditions are improved so "give it shot" and see if you can beat the Dinger's. To win the volume category all you need is time and lots of pickers! Speed is not an issue. If you are going to pick in the contest be sure to check in with us before you start.

Elder berries soon! Figs soon! Blackberries still good but they will be gone soon.

See you in the Berry Fields....Walker forThe Happy Berry Bunch!

Greetings from the Happy Berry Bunch Ed, Zoe, Dane, Woody, Michael, Walker and Ann

We are open July 4, 2005. We will operate normal hours during July 4th weekend. They are: 8 AM till dusk Monday through Friday; 8 AM till 6 PM Saturday; 12 Noon till Dusk on Sunday. Dusk this time year is about 9:00 PM.

Blackberry picking is excellent. Now is the time! They will be gone in several weeks.

Blueberry picking is good to excellent and improving. The Centurions have started along with the Tifblue and Delights. A word of caution on the Delights…they turn blue before they turn ripe. They are a big berry, so the customer is tempted. GO ahead and eat a few so you can hone in on what is quality. We are just days, if not hours away from there being blueberries just everywhere.

There are just a few figs. The main crop will be in August 1, 2005. It promises to be a big Fig Crop. I was just eating the last of our dried sugar figs yesterday. OOOH! Were they good!

Elderberries - last week of July.

There are just a few raspberries and you must be early to get any.

We will start the first ever Happy Berry Picking contest this coming Saturday, July 2, 2005. We are really excited! We hope you will participate. It will be fun. Please check our link for the summary and rules.

The Choctaw blackberry variety is real sweet now but will be gone soon. The Kiowa and Chickasaw are doing it now and we are seeing 10 and 15 pounder’s come out of the field.

We are estimating that we have about 75 tons of berries to harvest this season. Blackberries are pouring out of the field right now. Blueberry picking has moved to good and by this Saturday should be excellent. We are seeing berries starting to ripen on the Tifblue and Centurion varieties. Right now we are picking the Climax and Premier varieties and will be for 4 or 5 more weeks. There will be just blueberries everywhere! It will be peak-of-season soon.

Come pick! Bring a Friend!

Thanks from The Happy Berry Bunch!

Blackberries are ripe. Blueberry picking conditions are fair.

We are picking all varieties of blackberries except Chester. Blackberry conditions good to excellent The Choctaw, the ones with the small seeds, will be gone soon. The Kiowa, Chickasaw, and Georgia Gem, are approaching peak. Now is the time to get blackberries.

Blueberries. We are have been picking Climax and Premier blueberries since June 17, They are ripening fast now with the,… at last…, warmer weather. We are continuing to list conditions as “fair” as there has been heavy picking pressure….Business has been great!!!Yes ! Yes! Yes! Good pickers are coming out the field with really nice buckets of berries. Remember you can't go by sight alone -- you have feel for plumpness.

Raspberries, both black and red, continue to ripen but quantity is low so we continue to list conditions as poor. We are operating with a one quart limit per family again this year.

Breba[spring] figs are ripening but we are not impressed. The quality is not as good as summer figs that will start August 1.

We have sold some Elderberry flowers for tempura [a Japanese procedure to fry them in batter{I think we say fritter here in the south}] they are very light so we had to set the price at $5 per pound…but that is a lot of flowers! First fruit in late July.

Grapes are growing. Think Grapes in 2006 [we will have a few Premium muscadines in 2006]. We will have just few pounds of Concords, Jacques and Blanc Dubois this year 2005.

Please come join us in the field!
Walker for the Happy berry Bunch!

Blackberry picking is excellent in the morning …downgrading to good by mid day ….but then increasing back to excellent as picking slows in midday. It only takes a few hours for the blackberries to ripen up. We are picking all varieties Choctaw the most --- but there is some Kiowa, Chickasaw, and Georgia Gem. We have removed all but Chester thornless varieties because of viruses.

Think Blueberries! It is a bumper crop of blueberries, with picking forecasted to begin June 18, 2005. We are listing the picking as poor because you have to be a good picker or you will get red berries on the bottom that are not as sweet as they should be. The trick is to feel for the plump berries as you run your fingers over the berry cluster. If your not sure what plump is eat a few till you get it right. We will be picking Climax and Premier. There should be lots more plump berries next week.

Breba Figs should be soon but not yet.

Black raspberries… just a very few. The flora canes were damaged by the winter. Usually the first picker gets them all. We are operating with a 1 quart limit.

Red raspberries will be in July and will be very limited.

Elderberries …late July.

Summer figs …First of August

"It is an ill wind that does not blow some good."

The bad news is that the cool weather has slowed the ripening of the blackberries but the good news is that the strawberries are still blooming.

Blackberries: The Happy Berry is open as of June 1 but the picking will be very poor. I did eat a ripe blackberry yesterday (May 30th) but they were very scattered. They should pick up by the weekend. It is matter of heat units and…. they are accumulating…. just at a slower rate. As a historical perspective: The earliest we have ever started picking was May 25. This year will be the latest we have ever started.

Strawberries: Since it takes about 28 to 30 days to go from bloom to maturity, strawberry fruit local growers will still be picking the end of June if they don't give up. Usually berry size decreases but the berries seem to get sweeter. Strawberries could go to July 1 !! Call first to check conditions
Curtis Tilson 864 944 9374
Eric Hunter 864 859 2978
Kevin Hardy 864 224 5441 and
Tom Tratham 864 243 4801.
Normally strawberry bloom shuts down once hot weather arrives and in some years it is over by the 15th of June

Blueberries may also be delayed we will keep you updated. The blueberry bushes are loaded! Raspberries had a very tough winter. Most fruiting canes died. The primo canes are growing vigorously. The primocane fruiting varieties will start in July. We have added Caroline and Jaclyn, two more Primocane fruiting varieties. The plan is to go mostly primocane fruiting. There will be a few black raspberries. We will keep you posted.

See you in the fields!

Walker for The Happy Berry Bunch!
Ann, Zoe, Betty Ann, Woody, Michael and Walker

We will start with the variety Choctaw. It is the one with the smallest seeds. The crop looks excellent! About the third week of June we anticipate the Chickasaw variety will be ready. In early July we anticipate Kiowa variety will be ready.

We will have a breba [June] crop of figs, the first in 24 years! And summer figs will start first week of August.

The news is we took out all the thornless blackberries because they were dying with a complex of viruses. We have planted back with two primocane bearing varieties [thorny], Prime Jim and Prime Jan in honor of the breeder and his wife who discovered the genes. These varieties will bear fruit on the current season canes in late summer and early fall, a first for blackberries. We are the first in the state to plant these as far as we know. The breeder warns they may not be productive in our area but in research trials in the Pacific Northwest [cooler] they were very productive.

We have also planted black and bronze dessert type muscadine grapes. Zoe has bought 3.5 acres adjacent to the farm and plans to plant wine and seedless table grapes on 1.5 acres or so.

We anticipate Blueberries to start about June 18. An enormous crop is anticipated. Raspberries will be late this year as we lost many of the fruiting canes to winter weather. Elderberries will be the last week of July.

As always the grass is clipped; portable toilets will be available; there will be ice water; wear shoes and dress for the weather; and prices will be the same as last year

Please call or email ahead for prepicked orders 864 868 2946 , 864 350 9345

Sincerely, Walker, Ann, Zoe, Betty Ann, Ed, and Woody

Click here for our complimentary coupon
Click here for our pre-picked order form

It is official, The Happy Berry will open on June 1 with Choctaw Blackberry. We are still hedging on blueberries- it is a really big crop …enormous!! and may take a few more days to start this year over previous years. We are thinking about 15 to 20 th of June.

More about strawberries! The Happy Berry does not have Strawberries….But….

Strawberry season is in full swing! In addition to Kevin Hardy and Eric Hunter, mentioned in the last newsletter, we have two other friends in the strawberry business. One of them, Curtis Tilson you might remember. He is back in business. His farm is located 8 miles north of Walhalla and 2.5 miles south of Route 130 on Highway 11. He is about 4 miles off of Highway 11 on the mountain side. He has lots of signs so just follow the signs. In addition, Happy Cow Creamery, Tom Tratham,(which has non-homogenized milk that is pasteurized at 145 degrees instead of 165 degrees used in flash pasteurization- check out his website) has strawberries too. He is located off of Route 25 about 8 miles south of the toll road on the south side Greenville. Watch for his sign on the left about 1.5 miles south of Ware Place. Eric Hunter, north of Easley on Jameson Road and Kevin Hardy in Anderson on Strawberry Lane report they are at peak right now and will remain that way till a couple weeks into June.

See you in the berry fields.

Walker for The Happy Berry Bunch!

Estimated Opening Day is June 1, 2005

We have dubbed 2005 the year of the blueberry. It has been one the nicest springs ever well at least since 1979 when we started. We have not had a single damaging frost. The bushes are loaded. It has been rainy -- and that is good! but we had some days when bee activity was low. Blueberries must be pollinated and cross-pollination is best. This may be a blessing in disguise though as you can get to many berries on a bush. Ideally you want to set only about 80% of the flowers.

Despite the viruses we left the Kiowa, Chickasaw, Georgia Gem and Choctaw blackberries. The Choctaw will start June 1, 2005. We took out all the Apache Blackberries and replanted with muscadine grapes, the big sweet desert types both black and bronze. In keeping with your wishes we replanted with Prime Jim and Prime Jan primocane bearing blackberries. We don't know what to expect. These are the first ever to be planted in this area. We will tip them to delay harvest till as late as possible as the research results in the Pacific Northwest indicate they like cooler weather there, better than in Arkansas where they were discovered.

Looks like we will have a breba [spring] crop of figs. This will be the first year since we started figs. Most years it is just a summer crop. We will keep you posted.

Eric Hunter is located off of 183 between Pickens and Greenville. If you are headed east on Route183 once you past the four-way stop at Route 135 you can turn right on Jameson Rd. If you are coming out of Easley on 135, about 1 mile or so before you get to 183 you can turn right on Jameson Rd. I was talking with the Hunters and they are taking orders for pre picked berries. Call 859 2978. Be sure to leave your name, time of pick up, a contact number in case there is a problem.

Kevin Hardy also has strawberries as well as other berries. He is located near Anderson. Go west on Dobbins Bridge Rd off of by-pass Route 28 [If you are headed east it is after you pass Highway 24]. Go 3.5 miles and turn left on to Strawberry Lane. Kevin said it would be Monday or Tuesday. He said the cool weather today and tomorrow might slow things up a day or so. The Hardy’s number 224 5441 if you wish to leave an order don't forget the details.

Other news on the farm: Our daughter Zoe has bought 3.5 acres adjacent to the farm. We will put a small barn, seedless grapes and a few wine grapes along the right side of the driveway coming in.