January 26, 2010: It’s January but things on the farm are still pretty busy. We are pruning both peach orchards right now. The older orchard takes about 20 to 30 minutes to prune each tree. The newer trees planted this time last year take about 2 minutes. However, the pruning done this year on the young trees will likely shape the tree in the long-term. As we prune, we decide which branches will be the main forks of the tree or which branches should be cut off. We generally want to have about four main branches on our trees with the center open. Ideally the tree will look like an upside down umbrella (without the handle of course) when it begins to bear peaches. We hope to have peaches from these trees next summer!

Also on the farm we are looking after our strawberries. The extreme cold over three weeks that we had at the start of the year worried us but the berries seem to be fine. When they begin to bloom in March, temperatures need to stay above freezing or we must either cover them or run water over them.

We are very excited about our new sorting, grading, and wholesaling building that will be located near our retail market. The new building will allow us to further improve our quality and consistency of our fruits and vegetables. We’re hoping to complete this project in time for the strawberries in mid-April.

As always, our retail stand The Market will open in April with a supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. We do offer reduced “by the bushel” prices for retail customers at The Market. For anyone in the produce business interested in buying wholesale quantities direct from the farm, please contact Peter Wilson at peter_bruce_wilson@hotmail.com or 803.385.7695.

October 31, 2009: Our Market closes today but will re-open in mid-April in time for our own strawberries. U-Pick strawberries will be available again this year. We will open on December 19th for the Lowrys Christmas Parade. The parade will begin at 1:00.

We are about halfway finished picking cotton this year. The wet weather this month has delayed harvest. The soybeans will be ready to combine in a week or two depending on the weather. Planting grain such as wheat and rye will begin soon too. There is always plenty to do on the farm even during the time of year when The Market is closed.

September 26, 2009: We are now picking pumpkins and our big tent is up! Beginning Saturday, October 3rd, the farm will be inviting the public to tour the farm. Wagons depart The Market at 10:30, 1:30, and 3:30. For more information about our Saturday tours and our Farm Fair (scheduled for October 10th), please click here.

Our cotton is getting close to being ready to be picked. Generally when we start picking cotton, we work at it hard and late until it is all harvested. Hopefully we’ll be finished by November.

September 1, 2009: We have had a very good produce season. Our cantaloupes and tomatoes were especially good this year. We are still harvesting fresh tomatoes, okra, squash, cucumbers, and peaches. Our peaches will probably finish up around the middle of September. We plan on putting our pumpkin tent up around September 15th and begin picking our pumpkins around that time. We will begin giving tours of the farm on Oct. 3rd and our ninth annual farm fair is Oct. 10th. Farm fair will feature all of the usual events including the pumpkin catapult which has the ability to throw a nine pound pumpkin over 2,000 feet! Pumpkin carving, face painting, food vendors, and bluegrass music will all be taking place as well. New for this year is Pick-Your-Own Pumpkins at select times and dates. For more details about farm fair and all of our fall events please check the announcements and farm tours pages of our website.

July 11, 2009: We are currently harvesting all kinds of vegetables. Our peaches are extra large and very pretty this year. We are also picking lots of our own tomatoes. We sell them for $10 a half bushel or one bushel for $15. They are very popular for canning. Our sweet corn, squash, green beans, okra, field peas, cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplants, cantaloupes, and watermelons are producing well.

It has begun to turn a little dry on the farm. We have finished harvesting our grain for the year and planted soybeans where the grain was. Our cotton is looking good and has begun to bloom well.

The new peach orchard we set out is also looking good. The little trees have already tripled in size. We are busy trying to keep the weeds out of the orchard.

May 6, 2009: Our strawberries are doing well. They are yielding good, have nice size and shape, and have an excellent taste. U-Pick is now available Monday through Saturday. If you plan to pick a bunch, Mondays and the early part of the week are definitely the best times as it only takes a few minutes to pick a gallon since the berries are so plentiful (we don't pick on Sundays). Our squash should actually begin to produce in less than a week now. This will be the earliest in the year we have ever picked squash by far. Our tomatoes and peaches look good and did manage to survive the chilly temperatures. We should have our own tomatoes and peaches by around the middle of June.

We are excited to announce that Earth Fare in Rock Hill is now carrying our strawberries. Also, each Saturday we are now selling at the Charlotte Regional Farmer's Market. Please take a look at our Announcements page for more news from the farm.

We have finished planting our cotton for the 2009 season. Much of it has germinated and the rains we are getting this week will certainly help the young cotton. All of our produce is under irrigation but none of our grains or cotton can be irrigated.

April 19, 2009: Our produce stand, The Market at Cotton Hills Farm, is now open! Our hours are 9AM to 7PM, Monday through Saturday. U-Pick will begin sometime next week depending on the weather and how fast the berries continue to ripen. Please call The Market for details, 803.581.4545.

As expected, things on the farm are busy. This time of year we are trying our best to get everything planted. Many of our crops are planted several times throughout the year in an effort to stagger maturity. Our cotton is planted just once. However whether we are trying to plant some or all of a crop, there is a great deal of planting to be done. Getting the seeds or plants in the ground in a timely manner is very important but also very difficult.

We are also still working on installing the irrigation for our new 25 acre peach orchard. It is important to provide sufficient water to the young trees. Despite the wet season that we have had so far, we know that the weather can change for the drier in only a matter of weeks.

Past Journals