Planning your visit

A few hints about picking at our farm:

We suggest you come with sunscreen, bug spray and other things you may need to comfortable out of doors on a farm. We also recommend that you consider wearing closed toe shoes as we may have some pokey plants in the field.

If you are going for efficiency of picking you might want to think about bringing your own bucket or basket and rope you can tie around your waist to allow two handed picking.

We have pollinators on our farm (thank goodness), but many of them have stingers; if you are allergic please be aware.

We may not always be able to greet you and make change for you; please check in at our self-serve stand and bring check or exact change for the cash box. Our berries are 2.75 per pint, we provide pint containers and trays for the field.

Raspberries are Ready!

Hi Folks as of today we are picking raspberries by appointment, please contact us at swallowtailfarm@gmail.com if you would like to set up a picking appt. We expect to open for general picking around labor day weekend.

Please note due to the August rains we have more mosquitos then usual. Please bring bug spray if you are planning on coming.

2011 Season is approaching

We are getting excited to open for our 2011 picking season. 2011 will mark our fourth season serving the greater Lansing area (and beyond) with spray-free u-pick raspberries. We expect it will still be about 3 weeks from now that we'll open.

In mid-august we'll open by appointment for one or two picking groups per day and expect that closer to labor day we'll open for general picking.

We are not updating this blog as often these days but please let us know if you would like to join our e-mail interest list or you can look us up on facebook.

Thanks for your interest.

Preparing for the 2010 season

We are getting ready for the 2010 season. The berries are SLOWLY starting. Today we picked about 3/4 of a pint. Still, it will be several weeks before we can invite all of you to load up.

New this year we are also providing berry updates on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mason-MI/Swallowtail-Farm/299185864935

We'll keep you posted and look forward to seeing you soon.

Thanks for a good season in 2009. We look forward to seeing you in 2010!

Send Your Friends: Clean out these Berries before Frost Does

As we near October, we are seeing a decline in pickers and we have had plenty of tasty berries recently. We are starting to near a time in the season we called "borrowed time". This is the time of year when frost has not yet hit but it could any day so each additonal day of berries is a welcome treat. If you need to gather a few more tastes of summery goodness to enjoy fresh or bottle up in a jar stop on out. We are now open 7 days 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

2009 Picking Season Underway

We are currently open Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. or until picked clean as well as Saturday from 8:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The berries are nearing their peak for the season. If you would like a field update please call (517) 980-6634. Also if we have had rain on one of our normal open days please call as we will probably not need our closed for ripening days (M,W,F).