All men dream, but not equally.
Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, awake in the day to find that it was vanity.
But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it reality
T. E. Lawrence

A friend attending a Forestry Field Day at the farm May 30 took this photo of the farm was he left for Dallas. We hope to get more and also some of the
Rocky Branch Grass Ranch.

The is the note sent to 1,259 registered on GreerFarm.com to receive our newsletter advising them the berry patch it opening and a little other news.

Berry Patch Opening

We are pleased to announce that the Greer Farm Pick-Your-Own  berry patch will open at 7:00 am Saturday June 6 for the 2009 season.
There will be limited quantities of blackberry initially for the first few days, so those of you not near the the farm should not come for at least a week. We expect plenty by Saturday June 11. Blueberries will be few and far between for a week of so. To give the early pickers a chance, we are not taking pre-picked order until after June 11.
Prices this year for pick-your-own are $3 per pound for blackberry and blueberry. Pre-picked flats of 12 pints will be $40 or if less than a full flat, $3.75 per pint. 
We recommend you always call for availability, especially during the first few weeks of the season. 

The berry fields of north and east Texas were dealt a hard blow by the severe freeze April 6 and many peach and berry orchards have no fruit this year.  We had some damage to our thorn blackberries, but not our thornless blackberry.  The blueberry crop is probably 25% less in number of berries, but the berries on the plants appear to be much larger at this stage than last year.  We are also using a special organic fertilizer program and have had tremendous growth of our blueberry plants this season. 

This and That

Chef Eva's June 13 cooking class is sold out, but there are a few slots left for July 11 which will focus on cooking with fresh fruit and berries (Pittsburg peaches and Greer Farm Blackberries and Blueberries).  Classes in August (Gifts of the Garden: Cooking with Summer Vegetables), September (Artisan Breads and Soups), October (German Oktoberfest Texas Style)  and November (Roasting Meats: Succulent Roasted Lamb, Beef & Pork) are filling up.  The October and November classes are great for guys and in the afternoon kick back and watch college football on HD TV in a cabin on the ESPN Gameplan. 

We have two cabins and the bunkhouse available for the three day Forth of July weekend.  It is a great time to spend a few days on the farm and attend the fireworks and festivals in nearby towns to celebrate the 4th holiday. All other weekends are booked until after July 11.  There are plents of Sunday-Thursday weekdays available.

We are updating our blogs daily so check them on a regular basis to see what is going on at the farm.  To be published this week:  The ongoing saga of Johnny Pinecone, Bocce on the Farm and How to Not Work Cattle: Tales of a Few Good Cowboys. If time permits, we will also post on the blog some photos of our spring flower gardens.

If you live in the Dallas - Fort Worth area, please check out Food Roots bus tour to our farm Saturday June 20:  The Fruits of Their Labor  Part II. This will be an outstanding event and participation is limited.  More information is available at the Food Roots website.

The Slow Food Dallas Chapter has an event planned for the farm Saturday June 27.  This will be a hands on berry jam making class and time on the farm to pick berries.  If your appreciate good natural and healthy food, consider joining Slow Food.  This non-profit group strives to educates people about how their food choices affect everybody. 

We expect to have a good berry season and look forward to your visiting our family farm.  We appreciate your support.

Eva, Sid and all of us at The Greer Farm.

We were so pleased to be featured in several articles and a photo slide show online in The Dallas Morning News recently. Here are links to the articles and photos.

Photo slide Show: Down On the Farm

Article: Trading City Life for an East Texas Farm

Article: Greer Farm In East Texas Offers Cooking Classes, B&B and Cabins

Article: Greer Farm No-Crust Asparagus Quiche

I grew up without air conditioning in houses with screen on the windows, screen doors and an attic fan to exhaust the hot day time air replacing it with cooler evening air. I recall with fond memory my dad walking on the creaking floor in the middle of the night to turn off the attic fan because it was too cool in the house. I especially remember laying next to the window and feeling the rush of the humid cool air and capturing it under my sheet to make an air tent. That is something young kids today will never experience.

Everyone I knew has screen doors and they all had that special screen door sound when opening that you never forget. The old part of the farmhouse has screen doors and I love to hear that sound when opening them. Today it is in the mid-60's and the doors are open and fresh country air is coming in through the screens.

Most of the visitors to our log cabins will give nature a chance when they arrive and not turn on the air conditioning immediately. We normally have the windows open on arrival. Some almost break a leg to turn on the A/C to its lowest setting the moment they get into the cabin and it stays there whether they are in the cabin or off for the day on a day trip. I can understand if its 93 degrees, but when it is 75 I have to wonder.

In any case, for those that like a country break and want to hear the birds sing, we have added screen doors to each cabin. We hope you enjoy them.

For as long as I remember, we have taken pictures of herb gardens at various places as we traveled. One was at the Antique Rose Emporium near Washington, Texas. For Mother's Day 2009 I decided it was time Eva stopped dreaming about a raised bed herb garden and had her own. We built large 4 ft x 6 ft x 1 ft cedar boxes with quarter inch galvanized woven wire on the bottom to keep critters out. While we were out of town, Javier and Tony built the fence around the beds. There is more mulching to do and the beds need time to mature. In due course, we will up date you on what they look like. I think it looks pretty good. Just wait until she has flowering vines trailing over the fence and all sorts of thing growing in the boxes.

Our goal in Washington, Tx



The Garden that is Eva's

I have always loved window boxes and most of the places we lived we had one form or another. A few years ago we were in Canada looking at cabins and how we might build ours and I really liked the window boxes they had. We now have our own and while the flowers in Canada might do better in their cool climate, I think we will have nice blooming flowers year round.

The Canadian window boxes




The Greer Farm version

Javier and Jovita had a big boy last November (8 lb 7 oz) and he is a resident of the farm. While he may grow up to be a doctor, lawyer or candlestick maker, I am sure he will always be a son of the soil. He is no more special than any of our grandkids, but he does have a nice name..... "Sid".

Here he is with 93 year old grandma Mia, and with his mom & dad relaxing

Karl and Amber had a wonderful daughter, Kaya Star, when they lived in Daingerfield and he was farming with me. Now off to med school, they have had an equally wonderful son; Novi George von Goscinski Greer, born June 1, 8 lb 10 oz. So Kaya is a daughter of the farm and Novi is a son of the island they live on.

Timothy Walters is soon to be six months old. My daughter and her husband are doing a great job raising an all star slugger.



His dad is a recent MBA graduate of Rice University.

These photos were taken last weekend. The blackberry bushes will soon be loaded with these 1-1/2 inch long sweet berries. If you like fresh sweet onions, we can meet your needs. Onions are $1.00/pound pre-picked and trimmed. Berries this year will be $3 pound pick-your-own.

A large sweet berry from the thorn bushes



The thornless berries will be ready in a few weeks



A Candy onion: sweeter than the 1015



Candy Red sweet onions



Young fig fruit