Don O'Connor is a long time enthusiast for "Pick Your Own" fruits and berries.  Years ago, while living in Massachusetts, he wrote to over 500 Mass. farms asking which of them offered "pick your own."  Over 5O farms responded, and Don wrote a booklet, a guide to picking in the Bay State, called "The Pick of Massachusetts." 

It was a best seller of it's type (it was the ONLY booklet of its type...)

Did you know that you could "Pick your Own Popcorn" in Massachusetts?  True!  One Massachusetts farm grew corn for popcorn! You picked it by the ear, took it home, dried it out, and sure enough, popcorn right off the ear.  No kidding!

Anyway, Don is now a full time resident (and real estate Broker) in New Hampshire, and in 2008.. after a few years to rest up...  he  resumed his picking frenzy.     '08 was a banner year for blueberries and apples.  Don picked so many of both, he discovered a new talent he did not know he had, and began making blueberry pies to give to neighbors and friends, particularly those folks who had bought homes from him in the recent past. 

Right away a problem developed.  He cleaned his wife Alice's kitchen out of Pyrex pie plates by mid-August (most of the few pie plates she owned disappeared to homes of the pie recipients, and on average it took a week to get each plate back.)   Soooo   to preserve domestic tranquility, Don had to hustle out and get more Pyrex plates.  El-Problem-O  It turns out the plates are $4 or more each, and it looked like Don needed a factory load of 'em.  So a bit of creative thinking revealed you can buy them (used) at Goodwill and Salvation Army stores  El-Cheap-O,  say  99 cents each.  Don now has 14.  Wife is happy.  Pies going out like mad.  The places Don picked blueberries in  2008... they are haaaaappy. Pie recipients very happy.  Everybody is  verrry  happy. Don has blue fingers up to his elbows.... He put on a few pounds himself, but that was just a hazard of the occupation, or a fringe benefit... call it either way.

 One pie recipient, no amateur at word crafting himself, wrote Don a "Thank You Note" declaring that their home had been named an "Officially Appointed State of New Hampshire Safe Haven House for Wayward Pies."  They got a second pie.

Don also happens to appreciate the Plymouth Town Library, where he bestowed a number of pies in the summer and fall of '08 and 2009 for staff fullfillment.  They are happy...  Don  seldom has to pay late fee fines now. (Just kidding...  he pays... boy does he pay... for the bag loads of books he just can't seem to part with on time...)

Don learned quite a bit in 2008, including this:  you can pick choice apples  for   $XXXX$ a pound, but you can gather "drops"  (yes, a bit bruised here and there, but IDEAL for pies)  for  XX a pound.  Don LOVES  XX a pound, and the apple pie recipients rated the pies  XXXXXXXXX.  Everybody happy again.  Don is learning more and more, and has decided to share his hobby in 2009 and 2010 with anyone in New Hampshire who enjoys "Pick Your Own".  Now, he will dedicate this space on this website... at no small cost... "but what price for pick your own?" he asks.... for "information sharing" on this most pleasant pastime.  If you share his enthusiasm, you can email Don at UpickNH@donoconnor.com  with hot tips on places to go, people to see, berries to pick.  Ahhh yes, a dream come true.  The "information highway" straight to the berry patch.  Gotta love this....  At last, a use for the internet to truly benefit mankind...

All jocularity aside, here's why Don truly enjoys "Pick Your Own" and suggests  that more people get outdoors and go to a New Hampshire farm or orchard this year:

1. PYO supports the local economy.  Goodness only knows where apples and berries come from at the grocery store.  Don't get us wrong, we have no objection to the good folks of Chile, but if we can support fellow Granite State families who work very hard to produce food for us,  why not buy fresh from NH?

2. When you pick your own, you get the best quality berries and fruits.  Let's look at the grocery store for a moment.  You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out there is ONE CRITERIA for the fruits and vegetables on the shelves there:  the product has been bred for LONG STORAGE LIFE WITHOUT SPOILING.  All other considerations are secondary...flavor, aroma, ripeness.  Have you ever bought a pear at a grocery store?  You could play two rounds of golf with one.  OK, one round.   Peaches?  Fgettaboudddit...  When you go to a NH farm or orchard, you get the best ripe plump juicy fruits and vegetables you can imagine.  Don also learned in 2008, you can pick... well... lets save that for  item three.

3. Farms offer more variety than you can get at markets.  Again, NH farmers oversee the varieties they raise, and they know the fruits will be fresh picked, not subject to the sharp pencil whims of grocery chain store buyers.  Here's a secret Don learned.  "Ginger Gold" apples are outstanding, only available a short time, and you won't find THEM at any grocery store.  "Ginger Gold" apples alone are reason enough to get enthusiastic about "Pick Your Own."  Look for them this Fall.  You'll be glad you struck that GOLD!

4.  This is just plain a "Darned good wholesome activity."  Get out, get some fresh air, enjoy yourself at a NH Farm... hey folks...   noooobody is paying Don to say this.   He just plain believes it!   Too bad more folks don't take kids along to enjoy this (as long as the farm is  O K  with children picking). Isn't this a world of improvement from sitting home watching TV, or taking the kids to the drive-thru window of a fast food restaurant for  semi-plastic processed vittles?  Let's get serious.  Visiting a farm... getting fresh, wholesome food from a farm... is about this much  XXXXXXXXXXXXXX better.

5. Maybe make some new friends!  Email Don at UpickNH@donoconnor.com   Maybe you'll strike up an email conversation on this most worthwhile subject... don't some folks call this  "Locavores" or something like that... encouraging buying food locally to save transportation costs and to support our local economy?  You might even meet Don picking some time this summer.  Got a blueberry or apple pie recipe to swap?  You'll have Don's attention...

So there you pretty much have it.  Don may include a variety of  "NH grown" products and events on this site, not just  PYO.   Maple products, flowers, Christmas trees you cut yourself. 

Don O'Connor     June 2010  The self-proclaimed "Pied Piper of Pick-Your-Own"

Don is a graduate of Bridgewater (Mass) State College, majoring in English and Creative Writing and took advanced journalism courses at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL.

Don now lives in Holderness, NH, with wife Alice, and sells real estate, including homes and land in the Lakes and White Mountains Region, and FARMS state wide.  If you want to buy or sell a farm, call Don.  He makes a concession to modern living by carrying a cell phone while in the berry patch, at (603)  254-8887

For sale today!  Organic farm at Wentworth, New Hampshire.  Don and Alice O’Connor are proudly associated with  Tara and Richard Gowen, of Gowen RealtyLLC , 58-C Main Street, Plymouth, New Hampshire, who've listed a great opportunity for anyone wanting an organic farm.  You can see more about it at  www.gowenrealty.com   Call (603) 968-7211 and ask for Don or Alice O’Connor today for a farm tour. 

Want to sell YOUR farm, orchard, roadside stand business?  Call Don today to start a discussion to help you harvest the rewards for a lifetime of working the land!  Now...2010... is a better time than usual. Interest rates, so far, have been at historic lows.

Want to buy a farm?  Don can help.

Strawberries are the first "Pick Your Own" crop in the Spring.  Watch for notices here on where and when to pick.

April 28, 2010

Here's a tip to remember. If you need Pyrex pie plates ( and by golly who doesn't?) you can get them used at Goodwill and Salvation Army store.  I found one at the St. Vincent DePaul Society Store in Laconia (it is not far from the Laconia Airport... I had driven by there many times and did not know it was there!  Big place, lots of stuff, neat clean, orderly, well displayed.  Cheap price, I love "cheap price"...  it is  my second favorite price next to free...

Speaking of pies, where can you buy ready-made pie crusts at a reasonable price?  Can you let me know?   email me at donrealtor@roadrunner.com    I have seen them  for about $2.50 a box  (2 crusts in a box) to as much as $3.79 for a box.  Both of those prices seem crazy to me.  Would be great to find them for a much lower price some place.  If I find out, I will let you know here at this site.

  June  2010  the strawberry season is here!

Got some good tips on where to pick?  Let me know by email!

 Do you have this problem?  When I pick blueberries, it is very time consuming to remove the small stems from the berries. (It is time consuming because I am cleaning 10 to 20 pounds of blueberrries, not just 1 pint.)  Do you have a suggested method to remove stems?  I emailed this question to Butternut Farm, who has a variety of excellent food processing tips on their website   http://www.butternutfarm.net/     The owner, Mr. Giff Burnap, was kind enough to respond with this reply:

Don, I believe the answer to your stem problem is that you may be picking unripe blueberries.  If the berry is truely ripe the stem should stay on the plant when it is pickied.  Now blue berries can be deceiving.  Once they turn completely blue (this includes the stem side of the fruit) they are not truely ripe.  They need to hang on the plant for at least 3-5 more days to continue to ripen.  During this time they will swell up, so what I tell our customers is to look for the berries that are not only totally blue but are swollen up in comparison to the others on the bush.  Now blueberries hang well on the bush, so if you can let them hang for 7 days all the better.  they will just be that much fatter and sweeter.  Thats the best answer I have and it is fine if you would like to quote me on your site.  Thanks for your interest and enthusiasm in new hampshire farming!!   Giff Burnap

  Butternut Farm   195 Meaderboro Road, Farmington,  NH  03835    (603) 335-4705   They have an excellent website, including a most informative section on "How you can have fruit all year".   Take a look at www.butternutfarm.net   today  !Butternut

 On another note, I visited Hackleboro Orchards recently.   You'll find them at Hackleboro Road  (actually Orchard Road) in Canterbury, NH  03224.  I met one of the owners, Mrs. Harry Weiser, and it was a pleasure to speak with him.  My guess is that you'll really enjoy doing business here.  They have a most impressive orchard and  PYO setup for a variety of apples, fruits, berries.  Find them at  http://hackleboroorchards.com     Call or visit them soon.   Why buy apples at a supermarket, where the product may have come from South America for all we know, when you can drive direct to the farm and support our New Hampshire neigbors who work  VERY HARD at what they do, to put food on our tables?  (I feel genuinely serious about that!)  This is the same reason I use a wood pellet stove.  The wood fuel to heat my home is providing paychecks to many American workers, instead of oil revenues flooding the coffers of some Middle East shiek... that drives me crazy....   Anyway, where was I, Oh yes, Hackleboro Orchards, a beautiful  NH farm.  Call them soon. Their number is (603) 783-4248

That's all for now.    Don O'Connor   "The Pied Piper of  P Y O in New Hampshire"!

Photo below,  Don O'Connor

 This page updated June 2010  The start  of the  PYO  season...for strawberries....  is just about here. 

Anyone with news of picking conditions is invited to email me at donrealtor@roadrunner.com  and I'll post details here for any farm in the state!