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 River Front Berry Farm originated in 1994 after Bob and Coleen Blain retired as educators in suburban Chicago and returned to the farm in down state Illinois where Bob grew up. The farm was originally purchased by Bob's grandfather, Gilbert Demierre in 1906. Coleen and Bob are the third generation of the family to operate the farm. The farm is located in northeast Iroquois County and boarders the Iroquois River which results in the name River Front Berry Farm.
Fruits grown on the farm include: strawberries, red raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, apples, cherries, and now black raspberries which were established in the spring of 2007. Vegetable crops grown include: asparagus, garlic, sweet corn and over 20 other garden vegetables.
Freshness and high quality produce are paramount to Coleen and Bob. Produce is picked fresh daily throughout the growing season. Items which benefit from cooling such as strawberries and raspberries are in coolers within 20 minutes of being picked. These items are sold directly from the coolers whenever possible. The goal is that a given product be picked and sold that same day to insure the freshness and quality our customers deserve. |
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 Bob and Coleen jointly manage the fruit and vegetable operation. Bob is primarily involved in the day to day production practices while Coleen's involvement centers around packaging, cooling and record keeping. They share in sales responsibilities at the on-farm market as well as at the farmers markets they attend. |
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 River Front Berry Farm is open from May 1 through October 31. The hours are 8:00 A.M. ' 7:00 P.M. daily during these months. It is impossible for us to be on premises at all times since we are venders at four farmers markets and have other personal responsibilities off the farm. This results in our using the "honor system" in the on-farm market during those times when we are not at the farm. Signage in the market instructs customers on self selection, weighing and packaging of the produce. Then customers are instructed to place payment of their purchase in the "MONEY" can and to record their purchases on the form provided. We are very proud and honored to have customers who seek out our quality produce and respect our situation enough to honestly accommodate these conditions. This system has worked very successfully since the origin of River Front Berry Farm. We regularly brag about how our customers allow this system to work. They are truly wonderful people.
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