A few dates left for Field Trips!

 As we make the final preparations for opening our pumpkin patch, we wanted to send a huge thank you to everyone who responded to our quick survey. We received hundreds of responses are in the process of reviewing the information and look forward to sharing the results with you soon! Opening day at the patch will be happening in the near future. PS - we have a few dates left in October for field trips. For more info, see the flyer below & email us at browdersfreshpickins@gmail.com

We value your input!

 

As we make the final preparations for the fall season, we'd love to hear your answers to three quick questions. We value your input. Thank you for helping us make this the best year yet! https://forms.gle/7Sa83auf4tUcUTKRA

The Pumpkin Patch is Growing!

 We walked in the patch today and noticed a few early birds have begun to arrive

Thank you to the Smithfield/Isle of Wight Tourism Department

 

This morning we were honored to be in a room full of community partners at the 2025 Tourism Celebration Breakfast. Thank you to the Smithfield/Isle of Wight Tourism Department for all that you do in our community.

Installing underground water line

 

Farm Update: One way we keep our plants healthy is by rotating where our crops are grown. To make that possible, we’ve been hard at work on some big improvements around the farm! We’ve expanded our deer fence to open up new fields, laid nearly 2,000 feet of underground water line for irrigation, and bedded up 4 acres to get ready for next year’s strawberry crop. The rows are prepped, the fields are almost ready, and in October we’ll begin planting strawberries.

Fall is planting time for next year’s berries, but it’s also harvest time for this year’s pumpkins & sweet potatoes – we look forward to seeing you soon! 🎃

Dig your own sweet potatoes next month!

 

 

 

A sweet potato throwback pic from the early years. 💕

 

Fast forward 12 years and we're getting back to our roots ;-)

 

📸 The potatoes are small now, but they'll be ready to harvest next month 😁

 

Dig-your-own sweet potatoes coming soon! 

Plan your field trip today!

 

Bumblebees for our Pumpkin Pollination

 

Each morning our pumpkin patch is full of wide open flowers ready to be pollinated. In order to turn into pumpkins, the female flowers require pollen from the male flowers. To help maximize our pollination rate, we hired some bumblebees, and they're already working their magic! Next month we'll be open and can't wait to see you soon!

Pumpkin Germination

 

Pumpkin babies!

Today was our last day for our summer cut flower & produce season. We had an amazing spring & summer - many thanks! We're excited for our pumpkin germination, and looking forward to the fall! We'll be taking a break from social media for a bit, but will hop on with the occasional farm update as we prepare the land for upcoming crops throughout the summer and fall.

Before we go, we just wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to each of you who make every bit of this adventure worth it! We appreciate your kindness, your support, and are so thankful for this incredible community!

OPEN for the LAST day of the Summer Season: Sunday, July 6th, 7AM - 3PM (rain or shine)

14489 Bethel Church Lane, Smithfield, VA 23430

Sunday, July 6th will be the LAST day of the summer produce season! We're incredibly thankful for our customers and our wonderful community. Therefore, we're sharing what's left of the end of season bounty. On Sunday, 7AM - 3PM, you may pick anything within the Browder's Bouquet Garden area, greenhouse, or pre-picked under the tent, for FREE. That's any of our cut flowers, plus any vegetables we have remaining. There are some sweet lunchbox peppers (pictured), bell peppers, tomatoes (plenty of green ones; some more ripe than others), and a handful of a few other vegetables too. You may get as much as you'd like! Bring your own scissors, clippers, vases, bags, boxes & buckets. *Harvest all you'd like, but please do not uproot any plants because we'll be using this land for upcoming crops and want to minimize damage to our beds. Bring a friend and enjoy the harvest! 😊

Planting Indian Corn

 Open Daily 7AM - 7PM; Last Day of the Summer Season = Sunday, July 6 

 

We planted two varieties of Indian corn for the Fall.  The orange planter highlighted here is best for planting from seed, especially at relatively close spacing.  The rate at which you can plant is much faster than when using the blue planter we highlighted earlier this week, but it's slightly less likely to deposit exactly one seed per hole.  This orange planter is more nuanced (and more expensive) than the blue planter, but the fact that you can plant several thousand seed in a jiffy is worth it.  The way it works is there is a plate that accepts one seed (ideally) and rotates around to deposit the seed through these little silver "beaks," which penetrate the soil at the appropriate depth. We used this orange planter when we planted sunflowers & string beans earlier this season.  Looking forward to our corn growing over the next few months. 😊

Sunday, July 6th will be the last day of the summer produce & cut flower season:

14489 Bethel Church Lane, Smithfield, VA 23430 

Cut Flowers: 

$10 for a giant handful bouquet

$20 to fill a 5 gallon bucket - bring your own bucket

Pick your own produce:

$10 to fill a basket of summer produce: tomatoes, onions, & peppers. Gallon sized baskets provided.

Place cash or check in the black box near the gate. Or, scan the QR code to pay with credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.

Thanks for pickin' us! 😊

 

 

1 More Week of Summer Produce & Bouquets

 

OPEN daily, 7AM - 7PM. 14489 Bethel Church Lane, Smithfield, VA 23430

📸 Our daughter's most recent bouquet. I usually make bouquets with a mix of wild, bold colors. She prefers a color scheme that fits the theme of her room. Earlier this season, a young man picked a bouquet of all the different shades of purple because his girlfriend's favorite color is purple. It's so awesome to see everyone's creativity come to life in the bouquet garden! 💕

We've had such a great time during these last several weeks, extending the strawberry season with some summer produce and our bouquet garden. We truly appreciate all the folks who have come to pick produce & flowers! July is nearly upon us, and we will closing the farm for the summer season on Sunday, July 6th. This will allow us to prepare the land for upcoming crops, including increased acreage for strawberries.

1 More Week to Cut your own Flowers:

$10 for a giant handful bouquet

$20 to fill a 5 gallon bucket - bring your own bucket

& Pick your own produce:

$10 to fill a basket of summer produce: tomatoes, onions, & peppers. Gallon sized baskets provided.

Place cash or check in the black box near the gate. Or, scan the QR code to pay with credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.

Thanks for pickin' us! 😊

Pumpkin plantin' time!

 

We planted all kinds of pumpkins today in the strawberry patch - some for decorating your front porch, your desk at work, for carving, and some for field trips! It's been about a decade since we've grown pumpkins and we're exctied to get back into it! 🎃

This little handy tool was very helpful in planting several thousand pumpkin seeds. One person drops one seed into the hopper as the other person rotates the seeder forward, which opens the hatch and the seed is deposited into the soil.

It's been wonderful to see so many of you at our bouquet garden! Many, many thanks! 💕

Browder's Fresh Pickins is open on the honor system, 7AM - 7PM, 7 days a week. 14489 Bethel Church Lane, Smithfield.

$10 to fill a gallon sized basket (provided) with summer produce: tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and sweet lunchbox peppers.

$10 for a giant handful bouquet of cut flowers

$20 to bring & fill a 5 gallon bucket with cut flowers

Pay by cash or check in the black box near the gate or scan the QR code to pay by credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.

Thanks for pickin' us! 😊

Produce & Flowers

 

A few pics from the garden this morning 🌞

Open 7AM - 7PM, 7 days a week, on the honor system.

Cash, checks & scan the QR code for credit cards, apple pay, etc.

$10 to fill a basket full of summer produce (picking basket provided)

$10 for a giant handful bouquet of cut-flowers

$20 for a 5 gallon bucket of cut flowers (bring your own bucket to fill)

14489 Bethel Church Lane Smithfield, VA 23430

Thanks for pickin' us! 😊