DECEMBER/JANUARY UPDATE
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Our farm store is open and we have Thunder Muffins and frozen blueberries year-round. Our bakery and store are open 8 am to 3 pm Mondays through Fridays, closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the rest of December, Dec. 24 - January 1. Please keep checking for updates here, on our Facebook page, Instagram and our Google Business page.
We will post updates here, and on our Facebook, Instagram and Google Business pages.
Gift season is here and tasteful gifts are our specialty! We have plenty of options from small and thoughtful to large and impressive. If you are looking for family gifts, thank-you gifts, or appreciation gifts for friends or clients, we are happy to work with you on the size and type that fits your needs. See selections in our store tab or call for customized options. For us, no matter the season, it’s always “All About Great Taste!”
You can select your gifts and we will include a card with your greeting, pack and ship your gifts for you. What could be easier?
A great gift is 6 huge Thunder Muffins in a reusable muffin tin. We ship these October through May.
In addition to blueberry season, it’s a great time for shiitake mushroom grilling, and our farm-grown shiitakes are delicious! Grilling them is so easy: dip or brush the caps with melted butter, sprinkle with a little garlic salt and put on a medium hot grill, cap side down first. After 3-4 minutes, flip them over and grill just until the edges start to crisp. You won’t believe the flavor! Although you don’t eat shiitake stems because they are tough, we recommend leaving the stems on to use like an appetizer fork.
PERSIMMON SEED WINTER WEATHER FORECAST
It's that time of year when wild ripe persimmons start falling to the ground and the seeds tell us what the winter weather is likely to be. As you can see, the seeds show spoons, pointing to wet snows!
According to folklore, the split seeds of a fully ripe persimmon contain the prediction for the coming winter's weather: a fork shape indicates a mild winter with light, fluffy snow; a knife shape foretells cold, icy winds that cut like a knife; and a spoon shape predicts a winter with heavy snows to shovel.
Last year, our random seed sample showed a split: 33 seeds with spoons and 25 with knives. And the persimmons were right: we did have snow and cold winds. We are frequently asked how accurate the persimmon seeds are at forecasting weather. The answer is: about as accurate as wooly worms and generally more accurate than groundhogs.
Of course, it's always a good idea to stock your pantry with Persimmon Butter to spread on hot biscuits on those cold, snowy winter mornings!
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS & GIFTS:
FABULOUS FRUIT BUTTERS: Our smoothest spreads are Blueberry Butter, a smooth and not-too-sweet spread that crushes your blueberry cravings; Plum Butter, a vibrant, velvety spread made with our farm-grown Mariposa plums; Apple Butter, made from slow-simmered apples, cinnamon and spices; and Persimmon Butter, a rich spread with the unique flavor of our wild, fall persimmons. For a flavorful gift, try our Fabulous Fruit Butters! Order here.
One of our most popular products, especially during cold and flu season, is elderberry juice. We press and process the antioxidant-filled purple elderberries to make elderberry juice. Our 100% pure premium elderberry juice, made from our farm-grown elderberries, is non-GMO, gluten-free and has no added sugar. It is available in our farm store, here on our website and at select area stores.
FORTIFY YOURSELF WITH ELDERBERRY JUICE!
Elderberries have long been used as an immune-system booster and studied for flu-fighting properties. Loaded with antioxidants, the dark purple berries have been prized as a natural health promoting food since ancient times. Hippocrates, known as "the father of medicine," described elderberries as a "medicine chest" for the variety of illnesses he believed it treated.
We have been growing elderberries at Persimmon Hill Farm for several decades, and are experienced growers and processors. We harvest the berries at the peak of their season, press them for juice and process the juice under exacting standards in our FDA-approved commercial kitchen. Our juice is 100% pure premium Elderberry Juice. A suggested use is 1 Tablespoon per day, added to lemonade, tea or other drinks.
A great way to enjoy the benefits of elderberries, especially during flu season, is in hot elderberry tea.
Our products are also available via mail order. You can order online anytime!
You can come in for gift boxes, or order online.
Are we still baking Thunder Muffins? You bet!
We're also cooking up jams, syrups and sauces for year-round gifts. These are available by mail-order - just check the store tab at the top of the page.
We have a large selection of gift options such as the Blueberry Bonanza Gift Crates, Our award-winning Blueberry, Blackberry and Raspberry BBQ Sauces, Blueberry Syrups, Shiitake Mushroom Gifts, Jam Samplers and more.
We offer corporate gifts too and are happy to give personalized attention to your needs.
Call orders to 417-779-5443, or shop through the store tab.
If you have questions, please ask through Facebook or call the farm.
PET POLICY
We welcome service dogs. The FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act prohibits animals in the fields where fruit and produce is being harvested, so they can't accompany you while you pick during picking season. Pets are welcome to stay with you in the picnic area. Please be sure to pick up after your pets.
We are following updates and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control to plan for a safe experience for our visitors. We have plenty of room for guests to practice social distancing and traffic through the bakery and store is one-way. Masks are recommended for those non-vaccinated who are coming inside. Products may be ordered ahead for pickup by calling the farm in advance.
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It's easy to make your own blueberry topping: heat blueberries over low heat until the berries "melt." Add sweetener to taste, or none. Spoon over pancakes or waffles. Simple but really good, and (if you go light on the sugar) really healthy!
Pick up some of our BBQ sauces for your weekend cookouts. All have won ribbons in the Kansas City Royal International Barbecue Contest.
For regular updates and to send us questions: Like us on Facebook: Persimmon Hill Farm!
Looking for something to do that combines outdoor adventure with culinary indulgence? Make it a total blueberry experience at Persimmon Hill Farm in Lampe.
Beginning in June when the acres of blueberries begin to ripen, Persimmon Hill Farm offers the best of the "blues" – fresh blueberries for family-style you-picking, huge Thunder Muffins loaded with blueberries, blueberry crunch-top cobbler with ice cream, and even frozen Blueberry Sleet drinks.
"Berry picking is a great family outdoor activity," says Earnie Bohner, who owns Persimmon Hill Farm along with wife Martha. "You can bring the kids or the grandkids, participate in a family harvest experience together in our peaceful environment, and pick the ripest, most delicious berries you’ll ever put in your mouth."
Then, of course, you have to try the Blueberry Thunder Muffins and cobblers baked in the farm kitchen right next to the field. Come early for breakfast before you pick, Earnie suggests, and enjoy your coffee and muffins hot from the oven on the shaded porch overlooking the blueberry field.
And if you love "the blues," you’ll want to come back for the blackberries.
Blueberries ripen first, usually around June 1, but the season varies depending upon weather, then blackberries from late June to mid-July. The farm provides buckets and bags, everything visitors need to pick. Already picked berries are offered as well. The Bohners suggest calling to check on availability before driving out.
Since beginning the farm in 1983, the Bohners have not only hosted berry lovers at the farm, but have built a following for their gourmet food products. They started with blueberry, blackberry and raspberry jams so full of berries and rich berry flavor that the products were instantly popular. When the couple added Shiitake mushrooms to the foods grown on the farm, they enlisted the aid of local Chef Bob Nicol to develop a signature product, their Shiitake Mushroom Sauce, a flavorful sauce for chicken, beef or pasta. Then came their Blueberry Barbecue Sauce, a tangy sauce that garnered first place in the American Royal International Barbecue Contest in Kansas City in 1994. A spicier Raspberry Summer Sauce followed, a rich apple butter, a sweet Blackberry Glaze for grilling, "Croutakie" mushroom toppings, and more awards for their products, including two more first place ribbons in the American Royal.
In 1999, the farm added Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, a Gooseberry Walnut Jam and a combination blueberry, gooseberry, black walnut jam the couple calls Nutty Blue Goose. A delicious Blueberry Syrup was added, and then Blueberry Amaretto Syrup, followed by Raspberry Syrup and Blackberry Syrup.
The farm’s food products, made in the commercial kitchen the couple built adjacent to the blueberry field, are shipped all over the United States. A huge picture window on the porch of the farm’s store lets customers watch as Earnie and his crew make the delicious jams and sauces, hand poured, with great attention to quality given to each jar. Summer visitors can also see the gigantic Blueberry Thunder Muffins and cobblers being made.
"What we like most is providing our customers with the best products that can be produced," Earnie Bohner said. "We’re a small farm operation using an old-fashioned system - farm-fresh, top quality ingredients, top quality taste and individual service. But put most simply, it’s all about great taste."
Persimmon Hill Farm offers mail order packages of jams, sauces, dried mushrooms and more in attractive wooden gift crates during the holidays (as well as year round). A Shiitake Mushroom log kit, inoculated with the flavorful Shiitake Mushrooms and ready to grow, is a unique and productive gift. Also available during the holiday mail-order season are a half-dozen Blueberry Thunder Muffins, fresh-baked and shipped in a muffin tin - a great change from fruitcake.
Products and information are available on the farm’s website, www.persimmonhill.com. For a mail order brochure, call or write Persimmon Hill Farm, 367 Persimmon Hill Lane, Lampe, Mo. 65681; (417) 779-5443.
Want better health? Eat more blueberries! If you have been paying attention to healthy foods, you have no doubt seen the good news about berries – particularly blueberries – in the past few years. Blueberries are not only delicious, they are low in calories, virtually fat free, a good source of fiber and they lead the list of 40 fruits and vegetables in disease preventing compounds, according to studies – ranking higher than broccoli (and tasting better in the smoothies!)
At Tufts University, researchers found that blueberries top all foods in the neutralization of “free radicals,” cell-injuring molecules produced by environmental pollutants as well as the individual’s metabolism. These free radicals are believed to lead to health problems including cancer and blocked arteries. One key ingredient in blueberries is anthocyanin, the pigment which gives blueberries their blue color and which has been found to be a very potent antioxidant.
At the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts, researchers found that blueberries also protect against age-related declines in memory and muscle coordination in experiments with laboratory rats. Some researchers list blueberries as a “super food” and even call them “brainberries.”
Additionally, the compound pterostilbene in blueberries seems to be as effective at lowering cholesterol as some commercial drugs, with fewer side effects, according to one study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "We are excited to learn that blueberries, which are already known to be rich in healthy compounds, may also be a potent weapon in the battle against obesity and heart disease, which are leading killers in the U.S.," says Agnes M. Rimando, Ph.D., a research chemist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), in a presentation to the American Chemical Society in 2004.
Other studies have linked blueberries to improved vision, diabetes control, improved circulation, and other benefits. There are many websites with this research information, if you want to keep up to date.
Another piece of good news is that massive amounts of blueberries are not required to provide sufficient anthocyanins for the above listed health benefits. About a half-cup per day – or enough to sprinkle on your cereal in the morning – will do. That’s a prescription we all can really enjoy!
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