Category: Uncategorized

Orchard Notes

Posted on by Mike Waugh

Orchard Notes

Orchard notes – May 16, 2025
Opening day is this Saturday. We are so excited to see pickers on the farm again. Judging from the social media interest, it might be closer to a Black Friday or rock concert than a tranquil walk in the country. Although we have scheduled multiple picking sessions over the weekend, we fear that we may get picked out on Saturday morning, in which case we would have to close for a few days to give the orchard a chance to recharge.
The new blackberry block has loads of big beautiful ripe berries and the picking will be best and easiest here – all of the varieties are thornless and erect. We’re proud of our trellising job – all the fruit is easy to reach on two trellis lines, one head high, and one knee high. Makes for easy picking! This is the first year for this block to fruit; we planted it last year. The Ponca blackberries are every even-numbered row from 2-10, and they are ripening the earliest and heaviest. It’s a great berry and a great healthy-looking plant. In the same block, Osage and Ouachita are ripening as well. Osage is a sweet great tasting berry – one of the best for eating fresh. Ouachita is a great all-purpose berry, but ripening later than the Osage and Ponca.
In the old blackberry block, we have Arapaho starting to ripen. In previous years, it was our earliest blackberry, but it appears Ponca is even earlier. We have three rows of a new variety for us, a thorned variety called Kiowa, which is beginning to ripen. The berries are big and have a great texture. We’re hoping it’s worth the thorniness. Further back in the old blackberry block are some Triple Crown. We planted several rows of Triple Crown only to realize that our climate is not cold enough for it. The past 2 years it was sluggish and didn’t like to fruit. We’re planning on pulling them out, but never got around to it before this winter, which ended up being cold enough to suit the Triple Crown. It’s fruiting like crazy and the berries are plentiful and pretty nice. It’s fun to compare the different berries! Also back in the old blackberries are some random peach trees, some of which might have ripe fruit.
We also have a new blueberry block, but so far the rabbiteye varieties have not yet started to ripen save for the odd southern highbush blueberry planted at the head of some of the rows. In the old blueberry block, the first 2 rows are southern highbush varieties that ripen a few weeks before the rabbiteyes. The early rabbiteyes are just beginning to ripen this week, especially Climax. They seem to be a week behind their schedule from last year. In the back of the old blueberry block, marked with pink signs, are the Pink Lemonade blueberry. When these blueberries ripen, they turn dark pink. They have a unique sweet and sour flavor, so Pink Lemonade is the perfect name. They ripen just as early as the southern highbush.
In the middle fig sections, we have some random blackberries and blueberries that are ripening. Some plum trees have some fruit that are starting to turn from green to purple. The Santa Rosa plums are best when dark purple, and make a delightful fruit that’s sweet and tender enough to eat with the skin, but even sweeter when peeled. And it makes a superb jam.

Ripe blackberries on trellis

Ponca blackberries ripening in our new blackberry block.

 

Hours and Pricing

Posted on by Mike Waugh

Open Days and Hours

Next open days:

 

Regular open days and hours:

 

  • Tuesday: 6 pm to 7:30 pm
  • Thursday: 6 pm to 7:30 pm
  • Saturday morning: 8 am to 10 am. Field closes at 11 am.
  • Saturday evening: 6 pm to 7:30 pm. We will not open in the evening if we get picked out on Saturday morning.

 

 

 

We may open on additional days if we still have fruit available to pick.

We will close early if we run out of fruit. We close  if there is bad weather or lightning in the area. Always check this page and our Facebook page before heading over.

We open variably according to the season, fruit ripening, and the weather. We sometimes require reservations before your visit. The number of open reservations is based upon the amount of fruit available to pick.

This page and our Facebook page will be the best place to get up-to-date information about our open days and hours. We will post our open days and hours at least a day in advance, so keep checking back.

 

We open for berry picking beginning May 17, 2025 through the end of June. Our season peaks from Memorial Day to  early June, with the most fruit being available then. 

Updated May 28, 2025.

Pick-your-own Pricing

Blackberries and blueberries: 

  • $5 a pint
  • $10 a quart (we now have quart size picking buckets for the kids)
  • $40 a gallon (our picking buckets are one gallon)

We’ll provide picking buckets with handles. After picking, we transfer the fruit to take-home containers (pint/quart/gallon). Fruit is sold by volume, and you only pay for what you pick (no entry fee). You can bring your own bags and containers to bring the fruit home as well. Refrigerate or freeze them as soon as possible.

We occasionally offer bottled water and assorted drinks for sale, because it’s summer in south Louisiana and we’re all outside.

New in 2025! Waughsome Farm Golden Bucket

We offer a Waughsome Farm branded “Golden Bucket” for $40 that you can bring home.

Any fruit picked into the one-gallon golden bucket will be 50% off for the 2025 season, and 10% off for later seasons. Limit one golden bucket per person. Discount limited to 1 gallon of fruit per visit, which is conveniently the size of the bucket. You must have the bucket with you to receive the discount.

If you purchase a golden bucket on the way in for your first visit, you break even after the second visit, and get a great discount after that. It’s a great deal for repeat customers!

You don’t need a golden bucket to pick. Most customers will use a regular white bucket (one gallon size or quart size) and transfer the fruit to take home containers.

Fruit

  • Blueberries: we will have a variety of rabbiteye blueberries available for picking from mid-May to the end of June.
  • Blackberries: we will have a variety of thornless blackberries available for picking from mid-May to the end of June. Thornless varieties include Arapaho, Caddo, Osage, Ouachita, Ponca, and Triple Crown. We have one thorned variety called Kiowa – it’s delicious enough to be worth the thorns!
  • Peaches: our peach trees were impacted by the late frost in winter 2025. We will not have any peach picking sessions, but if you find some ripe peaches while we’re open for berry picking, you can throw them in your bucket and pay the same price as for the berries.
  • Plums: we have some scattered random plum trees that have a small amount of fruit. Same deal as with peaches, if you find some ripe plums, you can throw them in your bucket and pay the same as for the berries
  • Figs: our fig trees were severely damaged by the big snow event south Louisiana had in January 2025. The trees are putting up new branches, so they are alive, but it’s unclear if and when they will fruit. In 2024, we had figs from August through the end of October, so check back with us then.

Honey

We are out of honey for the 2025 season. We may get to harvest some this summer, but we expect the supply may be limited so we may not have enough to sell in 2025. Check back with us later this summer.