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Welcome to Cooper Farms Cooper Farms is located in Fairfield, Texas. Our main crop is peaches. We also grow greenhouse tomatoes, greenhouse cucumbers, blackberries, figs, and plums. The Cooper Family CONTACT
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Tim,
Kathy, Elizabeth & Ben Cooper |
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| __ | June 30, 2009 | Happy 4th of July! |
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Fourth of July is such a great time of the year with fireworks, homemade ice-cream, watermelons, and of course, peaches. I took a step back in time today and found some pictures of us in our younger days when Cooper Farms was still "growing," pun intended. For Tim and I this is the 32nd year we have been growing peaches together. We both worked for Fairfield Farms during our college years and then later planted our own orchards. I made a comment to my daughter, Elizabeth, the other day; "I have been doing this since I was seventeen!," to which she replied, "That's nothing, I have been doing this since I was three!" She got me there. |
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| We wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th and a very safe weekend. We will be staying open late on Friday and Sunday where, hopefully, you can catch up to us for peaches during your comings and goings. However, on Saturday, July 4th we will close down earlier so that our workers who must put in long hours, can stop and enjoy their families and their community for a few hours before having to get back to work on Sunday morning. So if you plan on getting peaches on Saturday, get there early please, and our workers will certainly appreciate you for doing so. We have delivered peaches to Central Market, Rice Epicurean, Sprouts, The Woodlands Market H-E-B, Waco-Hewitt H-E-B, and Whole Foods, so if you are not traveling our way this weekend, you can find peaches there as well. Again, Tim, Ben, and Elizabeth and I wish to express how grateful we are to live in this great country. We hope you have a good holiday as well. God is good all the time. Kathy Cooper |
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| __ | June 29, 2009 | Cooper Farms Update |
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| We appreciate our workers so much for their dedication. The temperatures were very hot this weekend and yet they smiled through the heat and gave you 100 percent. It is a lot of work to get the peaches sacked, and boxed, and on the table. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with you but they seem to do it and we appreciate that. One of our customers left them a water fan to cool off with. Thank you whoever you are! | ||||
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The final farmers market day at H-E-B in Beaumont will be this coming Wednesday, July 1. We were honored to be invited to participate and want to thank H-E-B for hosting the local farmers and allowing them to bring their fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables right up to their front door. Beaumont customers, if you know you want to get a box or more this coming Wednesday afternoon, send me an email and I will reserve the box in your name. The more sales we know about ahead of time, the more likely we will have enough for everyone who wishes to take advantage of this market this one last time. Kathy Cooper |
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| __ | June 27, 2009 | Freestone Peaches are Here! |
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__ | Just a quick note to everyone letting you know the Freestone peaches are here. Right now we are picking Harvesters and Carimacs. Red Globes are just around the corner. After delivering a pallet of peaches to Hewitt H-E-B in Waco, I found Mariana Apene and Kim Mooneyham this morning at our truck at Sanger/Lake Air. They were very happy to see that Ben had loaded some shelled purple hull peas on their truck for their customers. Don't drag your feet on buying your peas. They are only around for a few weeks and then they are no longer. All of the stands will have peas this weekend. The peas are shelled and in a nice quart size bag that is sealed. This is much bigger and better than the Ziplocs we sold them in last year. |
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| When we get something other than purple hull, we will let you know. For now we are proud to have these. God is good all the time. Kathy Cooper |
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| __ | June 13, 2009 | Cooper Farms Update |
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We were blessed with rain! Our blackberry patch looks happy again and now maybe we can see more harvest from our blackberry plants. This week we have been picking Cornett peaches. Cornetts are very dark red with a distinctive pointed tip. They are also semi-freestones which means we are fast approaching the desired freestones. Semi-freestones will come away from the seed if you are cutting them away or just eating them away. The freestones will probably be ready to pick in one more week. |
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I have spent a lot of time actually out in the orchards this week. It seems the office is usually where I am relegated, but this week I was able to get out and actually do some field work. Something I had forgotten how much I enjoyed! We have one row of white flat "Donut" peaches that were ready to pick. So Ben and I did get most of the "donuts" picked. These peaches went to Whole Foods and they should have them in the stores this weekend. We have one more picking of those on Monday for Whole Foods. Get them while you can. Because we only have one row of them, they are not with us for very long! |
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While Ben and I were in pursuit of "donuts", we found Dr. Byrne from Texas A&M, working with his trees. He commented on how there seemed to be more and more trees to look at each year. I don't know how he keeps up with all the different varieties he has growing here. But it is fun to walk through the rows and see how peaches can be all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. The peach is truly an awesome fruit. |
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I have to tell y'all that Tim is a "behind-the-scenes" kind of guy. He prefers to stay in the background farming and have myself or Ben write these emails, or talk to you on the phone. So when Patrick with H-E-B Plus in Waco, Texas asked to film an interview with Tim for Patrick's store, Tim was not so keen on the idea. We did finally convince him to be in front of the cameral and microphone. I think he actually had a good time talking about his peaches, though he would never admit it to the rest of us! Patrick plans on producing a video featuring his local Texas growers. He can then take it back to his store to share with his customers in the produce department as they shop. |
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Elizabeth is now 16 years old. Wow. Aunt Joan baked her a beautiful cake. We all had to eat a piece in shifts since this is the busy season and we rarely sit down for supper together this time of year. For her birthday she received the privilege of driving (driver's license approved) along with a new pair of cowboy boots to wear in the goat show at the Freestone County Fair next week. |
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| We now have all of our out-of-town stands open. For locations, along with days and hours we are there, you can click on our LOCATIONS link, above. If you still have questions feel free to e-mail me. If I don't e-mail back, then e-mail me again. These days are very hectic, and though I do try to answer e-mails and phone calls as quickly as possible, sometimes the communication falls through the cracks. So try calling or e-mailing again. May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope. Romans 15:13 (Amplified Bible) God is good all the time. Kathy Cooper |
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| __ | June 3, 2009 | Cooper Farms Update |
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Hi everyone, A few weeks ago I traveled to San Antonio for a few days and attended a "Good Agricultural Practices" Food Safety Course. This two day course is put on by H-E-B in cooperation with our Texas Agriculture Extension Service, better known as Agri-Life. The information was very up to the minute and I learned that no matter how long we have been farming there is always more we can do to improve the quality and safety of the food we are producing. Thanks to all those who taught us that week. They are doing a great service for the state of Texas. |
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| This past Monday began this season's gift boxes. We packed and shipped 1,677 gift boxes to go all over the United States in one day! Thanks to Fedex they should all be at their new homes by sometime today. If you know someone who would like to receive a nice box of Cooper Farms peaches, you can contact www.redcooper.com and they make all the arrangements for getting it there. You need to specify when you order that you want Texas peaches. They will be from Cooper Farms is you ask for Texas. | ||||
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By this coming weekend all of our out-of-town stands will be open from Corsicana north of Fairfield, all the way to Conroe, north of Houston. Waco is also open full time now as well. Stands open today are Conroe, Huntsville, Madisonville, Centerville, Waco, and of course, Fairfield stands. Opening full time this weekend will be Corsicana on Saturday, and Buffalo on Sunday. Please remember all out-of-town stands are closed on Tuesday, except for Waco which is closed on Sunday. Central Market is promoting Texas this weekend with their Texas Event and have invited local growers to sample their product in the stores. Since we can't be at each Central Market store that we service, we will only be at the Plano Central Market on Coit Road. We plan to be there from 10:30-ish to 3:00 giving out samples of our peaches. If you have a chance to stop by, we look forward to saying hello. |
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| __ | The H-E-B Beaumont Farmer's Market on Wednesdays is still on our calendar each week. Trent Neely headed out this morning with peaches, blackberries, grape tomatoes, and shelled pecans. The market is from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. On a personal note, Elizabeth finished up her sophomore year this morning. She will be getting her driver's license on her 16th birthday which will give her some freedom and will also help us out a lot here during this busy season. Elizabeth is an FFA officer in her local chapter. Recently she campaigned for district officer and won! So we are excited for her and wish her all the best as FFA officer for the Sandyland District. She no sooner finished her exams this morning at school, then she went to the roadside stand to help out the remainder of the day. Our county fair is only a few weeks away. Elizabeth and Ocho, the goat plan to be there. Ben has been home for about 3 weeks now and has worked nonstop doing whatever needs to be done. As soon as the peach season is over he will be headed back to SMU for his sophomore year. We are thankful to have hard working, healthy, and focused children who are dedicated to their family. |
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Thanks for all the phone calls and emails. We like hearing from everyone and hope to see you somewhere during the harvest. EXTRA! - Cooper Farms is in the Dallas Morning News again - Click on our "In The News" Link |
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| __ | May 14, 2009 | Cooper Farms Update |
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Elizabeth and I spent Mother's Day weekend together at the main stand in Fairfield. It was nice to be outdoors meeting everyone and seeing familiar faces from past seasons. |
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| You can find out more about Dr. Byrne at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Faculty/byrne_bio.html Thanks, Dr. Byrne for stopping by on Sunday and taking pictures of your final product! |
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| __ | Since so many of you have been calling and emailing to ask when other stand will be open, I decided to get this update out today as an answer to your questions. Conroe will open tomorrow. For the month of May the days will be Friday through Monday. Once school is out and we have students and teachers to help us, we will go from Wednesday through Monday. That will probably be in June. Trent Neely will be there again along with some help on the days we need him at the H-E-B Beaumont Farmers Market. |
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| Huntsville will open tomorrow. The days will be Wednesday through Monday. Because of road construction we have moved back to the location we had a lot of years ago. Mr. Grisham operates a convenience gas station on the east side of I-45 at the intersection with Hwy 30/190. If you go to this location, be sure you park as close to our truck as possible so as not to get in the way of the gas pumps. We appreciate Mr. Grisham allowing us the space. Waco opened today and will follow its normal schedule of Monday through Saturday at the same location, being the CEFCO on the corner of Sanger and Lake Air. For now, those are the out-of-town stands that are open. Don't forget the Beaumont Farmers Market on Wednesdays for those in East Texas who are not able to make it to Conroe or Huntsville.. God is good all the time, Kathy Cooper |
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