GRAPE PRUNING

Initial winter pruning needs to occur while the grape vines are dormant. There is also a spring pruning, but that is less labor intensive than winter pruning, especially if your vines are still young. When you get plants at a nursery they usually just tie all the vine shoots together. To properly train your vines you need to eliminate multiple shoots and have one main shoot that becomes a strong trunk. From there, you need to train the vine to branch off in two or four cordons, depending on your support system. Your support system is very important. If it is not strong, it will not support the weight of the grapes. I’ve attached two pictures to provide an idea of winter grape pruning. One before the pruning and the other the finished product. Cottrell Country Farm plans to provide muscadine table grapes for sale at the Hillsboro Farmers Market in future years. This is the beginning of the project.

PEAR TREE WINTER PRUNING

Cottrell Country Farm has expanded in 2026 adding a pear orchard. This is the first year of growing and it will most likely be a few more years before I have my own pears at the Hillsboro Farmers Market. However, in the meantime I partner with a neighbor to sell pears at the market during August.

A big part of properly growing pears is to correctly prune your trees. The first step is to start with good healthy trees. I could not find a nursery in the local area that met my standards, so I travel over two hours to get my pear trees. The first year of pruning you must shape the tree for future growth; thus, pruning is more severe. After that you take off 1/4 of the branches. When initial pruning, you need to think about how the sunlight will hit the branches. For example, you never want one branch directly over another, within two feet proximity, going in the same direction. Another key is to have a good set of shears. Spend the extra money on a good shears, you’ll be glad you did. Also, cleaning your shears is a MUST to prevent any disease from spreading from tree-to-tree. These are just a few of the critical pruning steps. I’ve posted some “after” pruning pictures so you can get an idea of the pear tree pruning process.

END OF THE HILLSBORO FARMERS MARKET SEASON/DIRECT SALES FROM THE FARM:

The 2025 market season officially ended with the Christmas Market on 13 December. We will be back at the market on the first Saturday of May 2026. In the meantime, if you are interested in any of our popular market canned goods or dessert breads, please call or text to make arrangements to buy direct from the farm in the off season. We will make items only based on individual request during the off season. While we don’t have all our items available in the offseason, example fresh picked veggies, we do still have many of our market items. Just let me know what you want and we’ll do our best to please our customers. Thanks for making the 2025 market season another year’s success.

Homemade Pickled Beets

For the start of the Hillsboro Farmers Market, Cottrell Country Farm will carry three variety of pickled beets: Sugar Beets, They’re Not Hot; They’re Spicy, and Chunky Funky Beets. The variety of beet we are using is Detroit Reds. Our Sugar Beets are close to the traditional pickled beets you might find in a store, however our Sugar Beets have a twist. We use just the right amount of cinnamon and clover to give our beets a unique taste. Our Chunky Funky beets are mixed with a variety of spices to give them a very special taste. It is hard to describe, but the closest I can come is a relish type flavor. Once many of our customers try Chunky Funky they buy only that flavor. Trust me, they’re delicious. For those of you old enough to remember The Average White Band or Steely Dan, you’ll know where the funky word comes from. That leads us to They’re Not Hot; They’re Spicy. What an unusual name. Well, unfortunately it is not my original saying. There was a famous cook by the name of Justin Wilson. He came up with the fraise. Come by the farmers market and I’ll tell you the rest of the story about this unusual saying. As unusual as the title is the taste of these beets. I use a wide variety of spices and arbol chiles to give these beets a taste like no other you have ever tried.

As the market season goes on, so does our products at the farmers market. To see the latest item we will have available follow us on our website: cottrellcountryfarm.com or on Facebook under the same name.

Homemade Jams

Soon the Hillsboro Farmers Market will open on 3 May. Cottrell Country Farm has been busy not only planting, but canning too. In preparation for opening day, we’ve made several of our traditional homemade jams. All our jams are natural and made with the same care your grandmother did when canning. At least for those of you whom your grandmothers stayed home and canned and didn’t go off to the beach and casinos after retirement. We are starting with many of our favorite varieties, Jalapeno Jelly, Strawberry Mango, Strawberry Vanilla, and Carrot Cake. Later in the season, we’ll be adding some other (Mustang, Peach, and Pear, etc.) when the fruits come in season. Although you can purchase world market fruits most any time of the year now, we still find the best tasting jams come from the local grown fruits when they come in season. If you haven’t tried our jams, stop buy our booth at the market. We have samples. Once you’ve tried them, you’ll be hooked.

To show our homemade jams.

ZUCCHINI PICKLES.

In preparation for the opening day of the Hillsboro Farmers Market, on 3 May, Cottrell Country Farm has prepared our delicious zucchini pickles. In our opinion, zucchini pickles are superior to cucumber. We could make either, because we grow both vegetables, but we’ve learned to stick with zucchini. We make two types of zucchini pickles, Sweet and Spicy and our standard zucchini pickles, which are similar to bread and butter pickles. If you’ve never tried zucchini pickles before, you should come out to the market and give them a go. You won’t be disappointed

Homemade Soup Kits

In preparation for the opening day of the Hillsboro Farmers Market, Cottrell Country Farm has prepared their very popular soup kits. In past years these kits have been a hit with our customers. The kits were my daughter’s idea, and they have been selling like hot cakes ever since. We made four different varieties of soup kits: Spicy Black Bean, Farmhouse, Friendship, and Five Bean. For those of you that are vegetarians, the Five Bean meets all vegetarian standards, to include using vegetable bouillon cubes. Whether the weather is hot or cold, these soups make a great and easy meal. Our kits contain everything to include all spices and instructions. See you at the market.