CROP REPORT AUGUST 19-23 Still pockets of GREAT berries. It’s not too late to get a gallon. Up high mostly. Many people are picking “ON SHARES” essentially “free” berries just for sharing 1/2 with the farmer !
CROP REPORT AUGUST 14 Honor system. Yes, we still have the late season “Powder Blues” with great flavor. August 16th Saturday come get some good berries. You can also pick “ON SHARES” with no money exchanged! k
CROP REPORT AUGUST 5-9 YES! WE ARE STILL PICKING BERRIES. Come between the raindrops. Also, picking “ON SHARES” with no money exchanged.
August 1st, Saturday A good day to pick these end of season Blueberries. You won’t believe how many there are!
CROP REPORT JULY 31 Such a pleasant morning to pick blueberries before the rain this afternoon. Lots of berries down low, too, for kiddos. Blackberries are about done but a good eye can find some juicy ones. Tomatoes! Last call for basil. Squash blossoms for the gourmet cooks. Open all day.
CROP REPORT JULY 29, 31, August 2 Manned (womaned) table on Saturdays. Honor system all day on Tuesday and Thursdays. Janet is working on the farm somewhere so call the number on the sign. STILL plenty of blueberries left in pockets of the late bearing rabbiteyes.
OPEN NEXT: Tuesday JULY 22 8am-1 pm, Thursday, JULY 24 and Saturday, JULY 26 then of course next week on a Tues, Thurs, Sat. Looks like we will have some berries for the next 3 weeks, though it is slower picking. Lots of Tomatoes! FRESH HONEY just taken off Janet’s Beehives! Quart SPECIAL $30 down from $35
CROP REPORT JULY 22 Tall people will find the best, unpicked, ripe blueberries in the rabbit eye bushes. Still plenty of blueberries for wandering and finding that loaded bush. Blackberries, tomatoes, cukes, lots of peaceful outside time!
July 19, Saturday was a Huge day in the berry patch. Reports at the end of the day are that the big, juicy berries are high up in the 6 ft + bushes. I recommend that you “get inside” the bush and pick up! Tomatoes are peaking along with cukes and black berries. Now selling squash blossoms for you goumet cooks.
CROP REPORT JULY 17 We are midway through the blackberry and blueberry season and these hot days have ripened the berries faster than ever seen! Ask about PICKING ON SHARES. That’s when no money is exchanged because you give half of your take to the farmer (Janet)! Win, Win!
CROP REPORT JULY 15 Lots more rosy berries that need a few days to ripen. The ripe ones are way up inside the tall bushes now. Suggest you wait until Saturday, July 19 or next Tuesday, July 22. Same for Blackberries…picked out today. Come Thursday for the tomatoes, cukes, squash, peppers, lettuce, honey. We finally made a dent in it!
CROP REPORT JULY 12 Peak time for blackberries, blueberries. Picking days this week are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with a manned table 8-1pm. However, if the gate is open, we are working in the field and you can pick on honor system. Organic tomatoes, basil, cucumbers.
CROP REPORT for July 12 Organic Tomatoes are beginning, plenty of blues and blacks. Pesto making on your schedule? We’ve got the basil. Open 8 am-1 pm Need a special appointment for Sunday? Call ahead.
CROP REPORT JULY 8 SCHEDULED PICKING DAY. Lots of beautiful berries! 8 am-1
CROP REPORT JULY 5 Gobs of sweet berries! We will be open everyday of the week until we make a “dent” in the crop load. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! Next picking: JULY 6 SUNDAY, 8 AM-NOON, JULY 7 MONDAY, JULY 8 TUESDAY, WED, THURS, FRI, SAT. Evening picking by appointment. Call 828-628-1758
CROP REPORT JULY 4 Independence Day ! No shortage of people grabbing fresh berries to make flag decor on cakes and giving visiting families a place to spend the morning teaching kids where food comes from. Next picking: JULY 5 SATURDAY, ALL 8 AM-NOON, JULY 6 SUNDAY, JULY 7 MONDAY, JULY 8 TUESDAY, Evening picking by appointment. Call 828-628-1758
CROP REPORT JULY 1 over 26 people came and were very pleased with the berries that are oh, so sweet. Cucumbers and the first of Zucchini are ready. Next THURSDAY JULY 3, FRIDAY JULY 4TH, JULY 5 SATURDAY, ALL 8 AM-NOON Evening picking by appointment.
CROP REPORT JUNE 28 Over 50 people came today and ALL got blueberries there are that many, BUT we ran out of parking space…temporarily. There is another parking lot but I didn’t get it opened quick enough. We are full with appointments on Sunday morning (not usually open but as long as there are berries we are opening special hours for those that planned ahead and called.)
CLOSED MONDAY, JUNE 30, OPEN TUES. JULY 1, THURSDAY JULY 3, MAYBE JULY 4TH DEPENDING ON RIPENING, JULY 5 SATURDAY, ALL 8 AM-NOON
YES WE ARE OPEN 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND. CALL 828-628-1758 if any doubts.
CROP REPORT JUNE 26/27 We are averaging 12 people a day in the patch which has been just right because you have to wander around to find the blue-est of the blue ripe berries. A lot of good berries and big berries are coming on. An example: a lady came at 8:15 AM and picked until 10:15 AM to get 2 gallons of choice berries by herself, of course taking breaks in between. We have two picnic tables and a sofa in the shade. I must say she was committed, on a mission, after losing her frozen blueberries to the defrosting cycle imposed by Hurricane Helene!
REPORT JUNE 24/25 It’s hot! Best time picking is 8 am – 11, then after 6 pm. Call if you’d like evening time. Berries are ripening nicely with this heat. Next picking day Thursday June 26 Mix and Match blackberries and blueberries. Cilantro and Basil, Cucumbers, too. Tomatoes still a couple weeks away.
CROP REPORT JUNE 23 Today, so hot, was a good ripening day so July 24 will have plenty of berries to come out for. The bushes are loaded. Today, spent time snipping off the dead branches where Cicadas nibbled. We had extensive damage. Cucumbers coming on strong.
CROP REPORT JUNE 21 Days End: 10 people picked today..not serious pickers but all just wanted that first ripe blueberry and they did pick clean. Raspberries about gone. Just starting blackberries. Most popular today was lush cilantro and basil. $1/handful. Cucumbers, Market More and Japanese long. Much eying of those green tomatoes! Signs on the road got put out as well as social media. Next picking day Tuesday June 24.
CROP REPORT JUNE 21: Blueberries are starting today! I will let a limited number of people in the patch. Call for an appointment now until July 1 when we open to the public. $15/gal mix and match Raspberries have dwindled, blackberries are starting. Cilantro, Basil and cucumber for sale in green house. 1 year blueberry plants for sale in pots $12.
Celebrating 50 years of U-Pick!
Small crop of Red Raspberries are ready in June. Call for an appointment in June 828-628-1758. Blueberry season will start Tuesday, July 1, 8:30 am-noon, open to the public. Keep checking here for a crop report. We’ll be open each morning Tuesday-Saturday.
Sunday by appointment. Closed Monday.
Hurricane Helene did a number on our irrigation system and putting ruts in the access road to the field, but it is repaired now and the rain has helped produce a bumper crop of Blueberries this year (2025). The cicadas came along in May and June and chewed the tips of young branches so you’ll see lots of brown tips but still plenty of berries.
Facilities & Rules
- Bring a container to put your berries in to take home. We pick in cut-out gallon milk jugs tied around the waist. A gallon is considered up to the top, but if you move it and the berries spill out, then you have overfilled and owe a couple bucks more. OR if you ate plenty in the field or your kids did…then throw in a couple more bucks.
- If you have any rinsed out milk/water/tea jugs, we can always use more to freshen up our stock.
- The season begins the last week of June and goes through the last day of July and sometimes into August. It is always best to check the picking schedule page that keeps updated.
- Prices are $15/gallon (which is about 5 pounds). Cash, Venmo, Paypal or check.
- Can you walk on uneven ground? We have rolling to level terrain that is kept mowed. The grass is dewy in the morning so wear waterproof shoes.
- Bring your own water as we do not have any source for drinking water here.
- We do have a Port-O-Potty at the entrance parking lot and a green painted, out-house at the bottom of the patch.
- Two picnic tables are in the shade under the blueberry house roof that you can use.
- We do not spray any pesticides on our plants or berries because we value the native pollinator population and our own honey bees that help make our crop. Besides, we believe you should be able to trust fruit right off the bush as you do the taste test to determine which ones to pick!
- Well-behaved children only. Please consider the peace of the other pickers. You must keep your children with you as there are ponds and creeks and poison ivy they could wander into. Our liability insurance is for the patch area only.
- NO DOGS in the patch.
- We keep your safety in mind but, as always, be aware of your surroundings.
WARNING: Under North Carolina law, there is no liability for an injury to or death of a participant in an agritourism activity conducted at this agritourism location if such injury or death results from the inherent risks of the agritourism activity. Inherent risks of agritourism activities include, among others, risks of injury inherent to land, equipment, and animals, as well as the potential for you to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to your injury or death. You are assuming the risk of participating in this agritourism activity.
History
This patch was created out of an old corn field in 1967 as a hobby farm for the newly-retired father and mother Peterson to have something to do! After all, the Peterson grandfather raised strawberries and trees in the early 1900s in Minnesota, thus instilling the love of the land.
By 1974, every row in the 4 acre patch was planted and thriving as a U-pick Blueberry patch open to the public by appointment. This patch provided and provides today, the good feeling of purposeful living.
Perspective from Janet, the daughter, “My husband and I took it over in 1996, relieving my 88-year-old father, and, blindly, not realizing all the work involved! He continued to do much of the mowing up ’til the age of 91. I have spent time since restoring the patch to its former glory and meeting the challenge of weeds, frosts, drought and sometimes, too much rain.”
The patch continues to serve over 70 families for their U-Pick needs and has seen 3 generations of pickers experience where food comes from. There is nothing like the sweet smell of blueberry blossoms in the spring enlivening the bare shrubs drawing the honey bees and native pollinators to the flowers for a bountiful blue crop in late June, July and August.
Yes, we still have some bushes that are over 50 years old! But most have been taken out. We transitioned from Northern Highbush to the Rabbit Eye variety in 2005. The berries are not as fragile, flavor is good, the bushes are hardier and the season is longer. They grow in drought and rain conditions easier than the temperamental Northern Highbush. On the con side, pruning is way more difficult and they grow so tall. So the jury is still out on whether we like them better or not.
In 2016 we put in a “JR” High Tunnel. Tomatoes, lettuce, basil, cucumbers and cilantro are some of the crops you’ll get to pick.
Plus our own Honey and Jam for sale from the farm.
In 2023-25 we put in 300 new Northern Highbush on the west end. We hope they succeed. You’ll see them marked with flags. Keeping them weeded and watered is the biggest challenge during the first 4 years.

Directions
GPS 137 Bob Barnwell Rd, Fletcher. But know that is Janet’s house address so don’t turn in. Follow signs to the field from there.
Follow your directions of choice below. When you arrive, park right inside the gate or along side the road out of the way of traffic. Do NOT park in the curve as cars come around too fast and spin out on the gravel.
NOTE: Do not go to a house or up a mountain. The patch is in the valley along the road.
Directions from Asheville; I-40.
- Take NC exit 53 A east
- Go on highway 74 A East for 5.2 miles towards Fairview.
- R on Emma’s Grove Road
- Go 1.4 mi.
- R on Bob Barnwell Road
- Go 1 mile
- (You will go past the Cloud 9 mailbox #137)
- to patch on left/blue gate, blue building with roofed market area
Directions from Skyland/Arden to Cloud 9
- Find the Ingles/Whole Foods intersection; Turn onto Mills Gap Rd.
- Cross over the RR tracks, go straight through light which continues Mills Gap Rd (Crossing Hwy 25A/Sweeten Creek Rd.) Go 1 mile to Concord Rd. Turn L and follow Y to where Concord veers to right, you stay straight which is Emma’s Grove Rd. Go 2 miles and pass the Emmas’s Grove Baptist church. Turn Left sharply on Bob Barnwell Rd. Go 3/4 mi. on Bob Barnwell Rd. The pavement turns to gravel at my property line. Your GPS will tell you that you are there but go another half mile
- (You will go past the Cloud 9 mailbox #137) to blue gate on left. Park in lot or along the road. Instructions will be on the table. I will be somewhere nearby if you call me at 828-628-1758.
Directions from Fletcher to Cloud 9
- Turn onto Cane Creek Rd with a CVS pharmacy on the corner. Go 2.3 mi. to the 2nd light. Go diagonally across Mills Gap Rd. to a continuance of Cane Creek Rd. (sign will point to Cane Creek Middle School).
- Go another 2.7 mi. Turn L on Concord Road (it comes up fast).
- Go 2/10 mi. Turn R on Gravely Branch Rd. Go to end. Turn R on Emmas Grove Rd. (no sign) Go 1 mile and turn a sharp L on Bob Barnwell Rd (after the church).
- You will go past the Cloud 9 mailbox #137 to blue gate on left.