Farm LoLa Photos
More like Farm LoLa
Recommended Reviews - Farm LoLa
Start your review...
One of the main reasons we visited Minnesota this summer was for the fresh honeyberry season. We had last eaten honeyberries in ice cream from Love Creamery in Duluth a couple of years back and were intrigued enough to want to taste a fresh berry. After searching for a bit during trip planning we came across Farm LoLa, which had berries ripening around the same time as our trip. We made the morning drive down on the 4th day of opening. Farm LoLa grows 14 different varieties of honeyberry from Poland, Japan, and Russia. The day we arrived, they were picking 2 varieties, both from Poland. The first being Indigo Gem - a larger variety that sometimes has the blossom end fall out, making an open air cavity on one end. It's interesting since it's quite soft and squishy on that end for all berries. The second variety was Zojka, smaller and a bit firmer, not as squishy. These are more difficult to pick since they stick more to the branch. A visit first starts with samples and orientation. The owner basically gives instructions on how to pick and a brief introduction to the fruit. The bushes are interesting in that they are wider than they are tall, making it more difficult to pick as compared to, say, blueberries. The berries themselves aren't very clustered. Instead, they are basically individual and/or in small groups spread all throughout the plant. They hide everywhere, so picking some, then lifting a branch reveals even more. The owner told us that one plant would likely yield 3-4 pounds of berries and take probably an hour or more of picking. We felt like we were hired fruit pickers, since we were led to a specific plant and told to strip the plant clean. That doesn't make sense to me since berries don't ripen all at the same time. In fact, most of the firm ones were far too sour and unripe for my personal tastes. Farm LoLa accepts cash or check only. We ended up picking about 3 pounds in our hour and a half there, which at $7 a pound came up to $21 total. They have a sign up to ask about free berries - we were told they have a fifty fifty system for berry picking, so if we gave them 1.5 pounds, we could take the other half for free. Apparently some local kids pick honeyberries for pocket change. A lot of pocket change considering that they can earn upwards of $30 an hour per the cashier! Overall, I found the experience to be less enjoyable than other UPick farms for other types of fruit. UPick should be a fun way of picking ripe fruit instead of being treated as essentially a migrant worker. Still, given that there aren't exactly that many places growing honeyberries, I'll give them a 4* review. read more
More info about Farm LoLa
798 Cemetery Rd
Wrenshall, MN 55797
Directions
(218) 349-9013
Call Now
Visit Website
https://www.farmlola.com
Hours
Outdoor Amenities
Other Amenities
