Firefly Berries

09/06/2026

We have a start date for Concord grape season -- Our first day of You Pick grapes will be Wednesday, September 16 from 10 am to 6 pm; however, prepicked grapes will not start until Saturday, September 19--with online ordering going live on Friday, September 18. There is also a high likelihood that I will be able to bring a small quantity of grapes with me to the Rochester Farmers Markets next Saturday, September 12.

Once we open on the 16th, we will be open four days a week - Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm and Sundays from 12 noon to 4 pm. We anticipate picking through the end of September and possibly into October, depending on the weather and fruit availability.

Pricing this year is the same as last year - $1.75 per pound for you pick, or a $1.50 per pound if you pick more than 100 lbs. For prepicked orders the price will be $2.25 per pound or $2 per pound if we pick more than 100 lbs for you. Prepicked orders can be placed online (minimum 10 lbs) or via phone (any amount) at 507-252-1309. We ask customers to place their online orders by 8 pm the day BEFORE they hope to pick up the grapes. We only do grape order pick ups during the times we are open for you pick grapes.

We encourage customers to bring their own containers to pick in; however, we do have boxes available to pick in for a small fee.

I have updated our website with other FAQs if you have more questions, or feel free to reach out via phone, email or Facebook messenger. However, please note that I generally only check my online messages once a day in the morning, so please give us a call if it is a more time sensitive question.

We look forward to seeing you out at the farm in the coming weeks! https://fireflyberries.com/faqs/

09/02/2026

Quick update from last night's storms -- We are fine. Our house is fine... and the grapes actually did quite well despite the high winds and intermittent hail. We did not see any hail damage on the grapes themselves, mostly just wind damage... bunches on the ground and some vines ripped from the trellis. We will be walking the vineyard tomorrow to retie everything that was affected... Grapes are still looking good and we are estimating a start time around September 15. I will post more details when we know more.

Strawberry patch also seems okay, though the fence in the first years has quite a few fence posts that cracked and we will be repairing to keep the pesky deer out.

For today though, we spent our time clearing downed trees and debris. Our family garden was actually hit hardest... two big pear trees snapped, along with a tart cherry tree, and various other trees throughout our property. The kiddie playground we had for customers is no more. It seems to have been blown quite a distance, part of it ending up going through our six foot fence around the garden, the force actually bent the metal stakes. And for extra fun, we found zucchini in all sorts of strange places, like in our raspberry patch, 70 feet away!

We will be back at the farmers market on Saturday, September 5 and hope to see many of you there!

08/28/2026

With a high likelihood of thunderstorms and rain in the forecast for tomorrow, we have decided NOT to set up at The Rochester Farmers Market Saturday, August 29. Our raspberries and blackberries continue to be slow to ripen, and without fresh fruit to offer, we feel our time will be better spent making more jam, and prepping for the fall harvest. We will be back on September 5th, and hopefully with some much needed rain, we will have fresh fruit to offer.

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08/14/2026

Good morning everyone! Apologies for the late notice, but we have had a change in family plans for tomorrow morning, and will NOT be at the Rochester Farmers Market (August 15). We do plan on being back next Saturday, August 22 with (if all goes well in the fields) a small amount of raspberries and blackberries as well. Have a great weekend!

08/06/2026

We will be back at the Rochester Farmers Market this Saturday, August 8. Still no fresh fruit to share, but we will have plenty of jam, jelly, grape juice, and naturally dyed yarn... as well as a small amount of raw honey. Market runs 7:30 am - 12 noon at the Olmsted County Fairgrounds. Oh... and by the way, while we were away from the market you might have seen us at the Olmsted County Fair last week. We were given the honor of being named the Olmsted County Farm Family of the year!

07/17/2026

Quick update- for multiple reasons, we have decided to NOT set up at the Rochester Farmers Market until mid August when we have more product to offer our customers. If you need jam, juice or honey before then, feel free to give us a call. And if you want to order naturally dyed yarn before then, you can always do that on our website and choose local pick up, or have it shipped anywhere in the US. We look forward to seeing you all again in August! Oh… and grapes are looking great right now, despite the arrival of Japanese beetles.

07/10/2026

Apologies for the late reminder... but we will be back at the Rochester Farmers Market tomorrow morning (Saturday, July 11). I won't have any fresh fruit with me, but I will have lots of jam, jelly, grape juice, and naturally dyed yarn with me. Also, if you are in need of raw honey, I recommend stopping by our booth in the next couple of weeks because we are running out of last season's honey and likely won't be spinning again until early September. Oh... and if you are a knitter, I have a new design/pattern available for purchase as well. See you at the market!

06/23/2026

With strawberry season over, we have decided to take a couple weeks off from the Rochester Farmers Market. We will NOT be set up the next two Saturdays. We will be back on Saturday, July 11.

In the meantime, if you are a fan of our naturally dyed yarn, Tonya will be set up with all things yarn related at the Zombie Knitpocalypse retreat and market this coming Saturday, June 27 in the 3rd floor Hilton Ballroom (10 East Center Street, Rochester). The public market runs from 1-4 pm. Complete details can be found here - https://www.zombieknitpocalypse.com