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Cotton Hills Farm
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Our Journal:
January 29, 2014
Snow fall at Cotton Hills Farm
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January 20, 2014: Winter on the farm is a time of catching up and looking
ahead to a new crop. We spend much of
our time maintaining and improving our equipment. It is really hard for us to do this during
the summer months when everything is in use.
We have several projects underway right now that, when finished, will be
a huge help for us in the coming season. All of our planning goes on in the
winter. Currently, we are working on
what to plant and where to plant it. We like to rotate our crops to avoid
planting the same crop in the same place in back-to-back seasons. Our basket
operation is in full swing as well. We
manufacture half bushel wooden peach baskets during the winter months. We can't wait to fill our own baskets with our own peaches!
We are eagerly counting down the days until strawberry season! The berries are looking great. During the extremely cold temperatures recently, we covered our strawberries to help protect them from the cold. The strawberries were in their most dormant stage and should be unharmed. It’s the late spring freezes that worry us the most. In February, we will start pruning our peach trees. |
Pete Wilson with this year's strawberry crop.
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October 24, 2013: Thank you to everyone who can out to our Farm Fair on October 12th! We had a great time, and we hope that you did too! If you took any photos, post them on our Facebook page. We would love to use them on our website. This Saturday, October 26th will be our last day of Public Farm Tours for the year. The wagons depart continuously from The Market from 10:00 am through 3:30 pm. Come have some fun on the farm!
Each year we look forward to the first day we can start picking our cotton. And, we are so glad that it is now cotton pickin' time at Cotton Hills Farm! All the fields are turning white and several have already been harvested. This cold weather actually helps the cotton. The bolls open up even more and the leaves fall off, which makes best for picking. We will be picking our cotton for the next several weeks.
We are picking OUR OWN fall broccoli and cabbage. It is available at both The Market and The Chester Market. Also, we still have pumpkins, mums, cornstalks, and gourds. Halloween is Thursday, and it's not too late to decorate!
Each year we look forward to the first day we can start picking our cotton. And, we are so glad that it is now cotton pickin' time at Cotton Hills Farm! All the fields are turning white and several have already been harvested. This cold weather actually helps the cotton. The bolls open up even more and the leaves fall off, which makes best for picking. We will be picking our cotton for the next several weeks.
We are picking OUR OWN fall broccoli and cabbage. It is available at both The Market and The Chester Market. Also, we still have pumpkins, mums, cornstalks, and gourds. Halloween is Thursday, and it's not too late to decorate!
October 7, 2013: The tent is up, and fall is here! The tent is full of pumpkins, gourds, straw, cornstalks, and more. We also have colorful mums and mountain apples available for purchase. It was a good year for our 50 acre pumpkin crop. Farm tours are in full swing. Students from area schools are visiting daily.
Farm Fair will be THIS Saturday! Arrive between 10AM and 3PM to enjoy all activities. The farm closes at 4:30PM, but The Market stays open until 7PM. Activities at Farm Fair include a live bluegrass band, 4 acre corn maze, straw maze and play area for young kids, farm animals including chickens, pigs, donkeys and more, 40 minute wagon ride through the farm, grist mill and farm equipment demonstrations, pumpkin carving by Steve Moss, and (as seen on TV) Roman's Revenge pumpkin catapult throwing pumpkins nearly out of sight! All of this and a small pumpkin is included in the admission price. Parking is free! Also food will be available for purchase from The Summit Restaurant from Chester, SC. Their food is always delicious! A huge selection of pumpkins and other fall decorations are available under the tent. Hand-dipped Tony's ice cream at The Market is a favorite as well.
We will be planting our strawberries very soon. We plant the strawberries in the fall and they grow just a little before winter comes. The plants stay about the same size for several months until sometime in March when they suddenly take off growing. If all goes well, red ripe, juicy fruit will be ready for harvest by April!
Our cotton is also beginning to turn white. The fields near Armenia Road and US 321 is almost ready to be picked.
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Farm Fair will be THIS Saturday! Arrive between 10AM and 3PM to enjoy all activities. The farm closes at 4:30PM, but The Market stays open until 7PM. Activities at Farm Fair include a live bluegrass band, 4 acre corn maze, straw maze and play area for young kids, farm animals including chickens, pigs, donkeys and more, 40 minute wagon ride through the farm, grist mill and farm equipment demonstrations, pumpkin carving by Steve Moss, and (as seen on TV) Roman's Revenge pumpkin catapult throwing pumpkins nearly out of sight! All of this and a small pumpkin is included in the admission price. Parking is free! Also food will be available for purchase from The Summit Restaurant from Chester, SC. Their food is always delicious! A huge selection of pumpkins and other fall decorations are available under the tent. Hand-dipped Tony's ice cream at The Market is a favorite as well.
We will be planting our strawberries very soon. We plant the strawberries in the fall and they grow just a little before winter comes. The plants stay about the same size for several months until sometime in March when they suddenly take off growing. If all goes well, red ripe, juicy fruit will be ready for harvest by April!
Our cotton is also beginning to turn white. The fields near Armenia Road and US 321 is almost ready to be picked.
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June 18, 2013: Our strawberries have finished up for the season however we have plenty of our own fresh fruits and vegetables now ready! We are picking squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peaches, tomatoes, okra, beans, and more. Our produce is available at The Market in Lowrys (803.581.4545) and The Chester Market (803.385.4545) in downtown Chester.
Our peach crop is looking very promising for this year. We recently picked some really nice, large Ruby Prince peaches. The heart of the peach season will be July and August but we do have varieties that ripen as late as September. We have a good many seedless watermelons planted this year. They look good with the oldest plants having melons on them about the size of a soccer ball. Cantaloupes, sweet corn, and a lot more will begin to really be ready for harvest by the end of this month plenty in time for the Fourth of July!
Our peach crop is looking very promising for this year. We recently picked some really nice, large Ruby Prince peaches. The heart of the peach season will be July and August but we do have varieties that ripen as late as September. We have a good many seedless watermelons planted this year. They look good with the oldest plants having melons on them about the size of a soccer ball. Cantaloupes, sweet corn, and a lot more will begin to really be ready for harvest by the end of this month plenty in time for the Fourth of July!
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