OregonWoods, I've heard the horror stories too. One guy reported catching a couple having sex in his orchard. Having heard all kinds of stories, I put some pretty stringent qualifiers on my small U-pick. One of the qualifiers was no children under 13. Mind you, I'm all for kids, but mothers look at U-pick as an entertainment venue for their children, and I'm not set up to handle it. Many U-picks cater to that clientele with mazes, etc. But if you have other garden crops, children will utterly trample them down. They are also tree climbers, which increases potential accidents, as well as broken branches. People will do all kinds of unexpected things. I know of one guy who didn't provide ladders to his customers due to liability, and one customer searched his barns till he found one. Last summer, one lady brought her dog to my U-pick. I suppose a person should expect that kind of thing dealing w/ the public. Not a problem as long as you don't have other pets. It never bothered me that people eat some of the U-pick. I know it bothers some farmers (I heard of one who weighed customers in and out, and charged for the difference). For me, I figure it's to be expected, and one should figure eating loss in the pricing. Ken, Thanks again for the good advice. I've got my email set up on my new domain (one small hurdle). I've also started looking into the tools I need to get the first page up; FTP software along with software to build the first page. Software's all free of course. I may have a different opinion once I get started, but so far it doesn't look too bad. Maybe I won't need the hot shot after all. Thanks for the encouragement. Mark

Unfortunately Adams and Harry Stacey grow with conventional methods - I am looking for berries which have not seen chemicals on roots or on plants. But thanks!

We just finished our 3rd year of having a U-Pick and have never regretted it. We offer U-Pick blackberries, blueberries and muscadine and sell the other fruits and vegetables we grow at a prepicked price at our fruit stand. Here are some answers to your questions: 1. How far do people drive to your U-pick? We have people driving over 100 miles to visit our U-Pick, but mostly they live within a 30 minute drive from us. 2. And do you have to lower your prices to help attract them to make the drive? We've thought about offering our produce 1/2 of the grocery store prices?? We set our prices based on what we feel the product is worth, not what the local market sells them for. Remember, people are coming to pick your fresh fruits and vegetables because they are tired of the bland flavor of the produce sold in the stores as well as for the farm experience that goes along with the picking. The key to remember is that a U-Pick is a "memory farm". In other words if they remember picking it as a child there is a better chance they will want to bring their family and pick it as adults. Your goal is to make them feel at home and safe once they arrive. If they are able to relive the positive memories they had as a child, they will be back and the cost really won't be the deciding factor. One of the many bottom lines to remember if you decide to go into the U-Pick business is to post your information on every internet U-Pick website you can find. It's free and that's where a majority of your potential customers are going to find you. Simply relying on friends and past customers probably won't do it, especially if you're going to be sitting out there everyday waiting for them to come pick. A website also helps too! BTW, we just had a great dialog on the Fruit GardenWeb blog a couple of weeks ago on this subject which might offer some additional information to you. I've included the link below. Hope this helps, Ken Barber Millbrook AL Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit and Orchards U-Pick Blog Entry

We just went this morning to Berry Hill Farm in Ramsey/Burns Twp. just north of Anoka (beautiful place!). Picked one box worth of them and can't wait to eat them up so we can go back and pick more. They charge $1.55 per pound when you pick. Kristy :) Here is a link that might be useful: Berry Hill Farm