Farm Updates

6/8/26 - We are open at our JFK Rd. location daily from 9am-1pm.  We are currently offering cherry tomatoes, greenhouse tomatoes, South Carolina peaches, kohlrabi, broccoli, snow peas, and new potatoes.  Cucumbers, zucchini, and other produce items are  coming soon.  Asparagus, rhubarb, spring onions, and radishes are nearly done for the season.  Our pre-picked strawberries are already done.  Due to frosty temperatures in early May, we lost some of the strawberry blossoms and there was poor pollination.  It was an early and shorter season than normal.   As of 6/7, we have opened up our strawberry field for pick-your-own berries.  It is self-serve, on the honor system, $4 per quart.  We provide the quart boxes.  We suggest bringing your own tray or box to put the quarts in after you pick.  Bring exact change, as there is no attendant on duty.  We accept cash and Venmo at the strawberry tent.  At times we have to close the field for a couple hours in the early afternoons in order to irrigate the field to preserve the berries.  We apologize for any incovenience.  We typically allow the field to remain open for u-pick for a couple of weeks, or until we see that the field will no longer produce.  

Sweet corn appears to be on track to begin around July 4th or perhaps slightly before.  We will be able to provide the exact date by the last days of June or the first days of July.  We plan to open at our Dubuque Blain's Farm & Fleet location in late June or early July. 

2025 Sweet Corn began on July 3rd and ended on October 2nd.  2024 Sweet Corn began on July 5th and ended on September 30th.  We begin planting sweet corn as soon as weather conditions and soil temperatures permits us.  Once we start planting each season, we must continuously plant roughly every 5 days, through mid July.  When we start harvesting, we only have a small window of time to pick the sweet corn once it reaches maturity.  If we harvest too soon, the kernals may not be as plump or as juicy, and may not have its full sweetness.  If we harvest too late, the kernals are not as tender and the sugars begin to change to starch, resulting in a chewier texture that is not as sweet.  We pick out of each section of planting for roughly 3-5 days.  We plant about 16-20 times each season, so that we can harvest corn for around 3 months.  It is difficult to exactly predict the beginning and last days of corn, as the speed of growth is very much weather dependent, despite our best efforts.  During the last 10 years, our sweet corn has begun between July 3rd and July 14.  Our earliest ever start to our sweet corn season was on June 24, 2012.  The timing of our first sweet corn date depends completely on the weather in the early growing season.  Our sweet corn typically ends in mid-late September, all weather dependent.  We have typically planted our first sweet corn between April 1st - April 22th.