Chautauqua Hills Farm
 Blackberries |
 BlueberriesMid-June to early July |
Welcome to Chautauqua Hills Farm! The 2013 season is just around the corner. We made so many new Berry Good Friends last year and look forward to seeing all of you again this year. We’re making some pre-season updates to Pick Your Own & Order & Pick Up. When we’re ready to begin accepting reservations and orders for Blueberries and Blackberries, we’ll send an email to all priority customers from previous seasons. You’ll be able to sign up in advance like last year!
A note on Asparagus: We’ve received early commitments for it and will let everyone know what we have available as the season progresses.
To read more about Pick Your Own Reservations at Chautauqua Hills Farm, click here.
To read more about Order & Pick Up from Chautauqua Hills Farm, click here.
Also, be sure you’re signed up for our Berry Good Friends Newsletter to receive our ongoing newsletters, posts and important information regarding 2013 produce availability, Pick Your Own Reservations and Order & Pick Up!
We look forward to seeing all our Berry Good Friends again this year!
Welcome!
Located 1 1/2 hours southeast of Wichita, Kansas, we offer naturally grown, herbicide and pesticide free Blueberries, Blackberries, Asparagus and Garlic. Our produce is available during the growing season at Farmers Markets, Retail Stores, Pick Your Own at the Farm, Pre-Picked Orders, Wichita area fine restaurants and Flint Hills National Golf Club.
There are better, cleaner, healthier ways of producing our food. Many are discovering these ways today and are changing the way they eat and live because of it. At Chautauqua Hills Farm we eat what we grow and we continually strive to produce the very best for our customers.
 Our buddy Cage relaxing in his new CH Farm Cap! |
 Our famous nickel-size blueberries - even in late June! |
 Fall 2011 Blueberry Field |
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Chautauqua Hills Farm Spring 2013 Update
Happy Late Spring 2013 to all our Berry Good Friends!
We’ve been busy working this spring in the fields in preparation for the season. As you’ll see from the video and the pictures below, the bushes are looking very good overall and have a lot of blooms on them. Thankfully, they all survived the cold snaps we had here earlier this spring.
When this video was taken the field was covered in bees, bumblebees and other native pollinators busily going about their work as they do every spring when the blooms emerge. To us it’s one of the most interesting times to be in the fields alongside our other Berry Good Friends!
As you can see from the images above and below, the blooms are plentiful and we’re even beginning to see some petal fall and very small berries starting to form.
We’ll be sending out an email soon to all our Priority customers to let you know when the Calendars will be open for Pick Your Own Reservations. If you’re wondering about being a Priority customer, it’s real simple! If you were a Pick Your Own or Order & Pick Up Customer last year, you’re on the Priority list for this year!
We’re expecting a more typical season this year where the blueberries begin ripening up around the beginning of June. So, we’ll watch them for awhile longer and then let everyone know when the Calendars are open. As our returning customers know, we work hard to marry up the berry ripening times, availability and the weather so when you make your reservations we have plenty of berries to go around!
We hope all of you are doing well and we look forward to seeing you again at the farm.
Your Berry Good Friends,
Lance & Elizabeth (and Cage)
PS. Cage wanted me to be sure and tell everyone he’s doing well and ready to see all the kids again this year!
2013 – Hello to All our Berry Good Friends!
Happy 2013 to all our Berry Good Friends!
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the holidays.
You might have been wondering what we were up to after last year’s incredible season. In short, we were focused on keeping everything watered and alive!
In the cold of winter it’s so easy to forget about that incredible, record breaking heat of Summer 2012 – not to mention the lack of rain that plagued us all season long.
Every year we’re amazed at the great job the bushes do in producing our incredible berries despite the wide temperature swings and variability in weather conditions.
Just have a look at the picture on the left taken in July at the entrance of our large blueberry field. It was taken on one of the hottest days we experienced at the farm.
Yes, that’s right – 117 degrees – and that was in the shade. In the sun it was over 120 degrees!
This past summer’s heat was pretty tough on all the bushes. Despite the heat, we worked really hard to keep ‘em all happy!
Some of you know from visiting with us that blueberries set their fruit buds in the fall and as long as the winter isn’t too harsh, the buds remain on through dormancy and then begin perking up in April. Regular inspection of the bushes and buds during the winter is important for a variety of reasons. One of the most important is to try and determine how the crop is shaping up for the next season. We’re happy to report that a recent inspection shows many bushes loaded up with fruit buds once again like last year! Now we just need a lot more rain and cooperative weather for the next 3 months.
Every once in awhile we’re able to capture pictures at the farm that are just beautiful. Here’s a couple of pictures taken last fall of our eastern tree line illuminated by the sun immediately following a large storm.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again who can make it to the farm this year. If you haven’t yet, do sign up for our email newsletter, where we’ll be sharing even more great pics, updates on the berries, and news from the farm.
Your Berry Good Friends,
Lance & Elizabeth
Chautauqua Hills Farm
How to Find Local Food Sources
It makes sense today more than ever to get closer to your food. Why?
Food safety issues know no geographic boundaries. For example, read this article from Caixin Online entitled, “China’s Food Fright.” We highlight this article from China simply to point out the challenges we all face. In a world where our food can come from around the world, it’s good to know where to find more local sources of the things we love to eat.
Chautauqua Hills Farm is a Charter Member of our Our Local Food – South Central Kansas. In these times of budget crunches and reduced funding, we’re very fortunate to have our very own Our Local Food Chapter.
If you’d like to know where to find more locally available food, check out the link below and get in contact with the farmers and producers listed there. They’ll be glad to hear from you!
Local Food Finder: http://ourlocalfoodks.org/food-finder
Cage Wishes You a Great Summer
Cage wanted to tell everyone how much he enjoyed seeing everyone this year at the farm! He had a great 4th of July and looks forward to next year!
