We have decided to come to the Peoria Market for the next several weeks, at least during blueberry season for all our loyal Peoria blueberry customers.

Serious blueberries are here. We plan to bring lots to both Peoria and Princeton on Saturday.

Currently, we are not sure if we will come to the Peoria Market this year. I plan to post it here and on our News Page if we decide to sell in Peoria.

We will not be in Peoria this week. We don’t have enough produce available to support the trip. We’re also not sure how the flooding of the Illinois River will affect the market.

Red raspberries have finally arrived in good quantity. You may pick them up Blueberry Hill and by the yellow Raspberry Shed by our Market Barn. Yesterday we picked over 600 watermelon: traditional red with seeds, red seedless, and small sweet yellow watermelons. Great for your Labor Day picnic. Both watermelon and raspberries will be available in good quantity at the Princeton and Peoria Farmers’ markets.

We thought we might finally make it back to the Peoria market Saturday, July 5, but it does not seem we have enough berries. We expect to make it to Peoria Saturday, July 12.

Saturday morning, raspberries will be plentiful at the Princeton Farmer’s Market, Peoria Riverfront Market and Sterling Market. At Princeton and Peoria, you can also find a good supply of watermelon, green beans and eggplant. Tomatoes and herbs will be available to the early shoppers.

The blueberries will be out to play, rain or shine Saturday. Find them for sale at the Princeton Farmer’s Market, the Peoria Riverfront Market, the Bartonville Market in the Park and the Twin City Produce Market in Sterling. We also have a good supply of peas, bok choi, lettuce and radishes.

Blueberry U-Pick is open with excellent picking at the farm in Tiskilwa from 7AM to 1PM Saturday and 7AM to Noon on Monday. Next week’s picking will likely be some of our best of the season, and picking conditions are already excellent, with lots of happy customers. Some have gone home with a cooler full and come back for more!

Strawberry U-Pick continues with enough quality berries to provides several dozen pickers with a few quarts each following their visit to Blueberry Hill. We will mark the best section of the field, and patient pickers may fill a six-quart flat in 60 to 90 minutes.

The blueberries will be everywhere. U-Pick or We-pick. Tiskilwa, Princeton, Peoria, Sterling. Call us crazy, but it’s the berries’ fault. When they say go, we have to snap into action to spread the colors and flavors.

On Saturday, Blueberry U-Pick will be open from 7AM to 1PM. They are a beautiful crop this year, and although the field is not yet up to full production, it should support several dozen pickers at a medium to fast picking rate. Many of our own pickers have been taking 9 or more pints per hour. Although some bushes are not ready yet, nearly every row in the field has enough ripe berries for a satisfying harvest. The U-Pick cost is $2 per pound.

Pickers looking for large quantities and large clusters of uniformly ripened berries should consider waiting until next week. The heat in the forecast is bound to bring out some serious blues.

Our market produce in Princeton and Peoria this warm Saturday morning will include a mixture of seasonal standards and summer holdouts: red raspberries, watermelon, green and red bell peppers, green beans, lettuce, salad mix, herbs, concord grapes, butternut squash, pie pumpkins, and even some tomatoes for the earlybirds. Find us at the Princeton Farmers’ Market from 8AM-2PM and at the festive grand finale of the Peoria Riverfront Market from 8AM-Noon.

Last week’s cool weather has forced a shift in this week’s raspberry marketing. We’ll be in at the Princeton Farmer’s Market with the normal supply. However, the remaining harvest was not quite enough to justify the trip to Peoria. Sorry, but we will not attend the Peoria Riverfront Market this week. You can find us there on Saturday the 30th for the festive final Peoria market day. By taking a break from the Peoria market, we are able to send a small supply of raspberries to the Twin City Market in Sterling. You can find our raspberries there from 8AM-Noon this Saturday. Raspberry U-Pickers take note that a sizable supply of good quality berries await you at the farm Saturday from 7AM to 5PM, rain or shine. Best picking in the short rows behind the yellow shed and the southernmost long row north of the shed.