Strawberry season ripens to fruition

Even with a soggy spring, strawberries are being picked and popped into mouths.

Andy Loewen with Friedensfeld Honey and Berry Farm said the rainy weather has been a good change from last year’s dry season, which was the driest in 50 years.

He said despite last year’s bone-dry season, their crop was average. This year it’s an above-average crop in terms of the number of berries.

Customers have also been showing up in rows to get their knees dirty for the freshest berries one can buy.

“We’ve had a strong turnout, lots of people coming to pick berries, so it’s been really good,” said Loewen.

He also said that the wetter and cooler temperatures have helped the plants grow larger berries than most years.

“The size (of strawberries) is better due to the cooler weather, flavour isn’t any better than last year though. If you have a lot of sun, you get a really good berry flavour.”

Their farm opened on Canada Day this year and should be able to stay open for one more week.

“It depends a bit on the heat, but I imagine we’ll be picking next week as well, that’s probably going to be the end of the season then.”

Loewen said not only has his farm gotten bigger, but a lot of strawberry farms are closing, which brings those old customers to Friedensfeld.

He said it’s a little disappointing seeing so many farms shut down in the last 10 years, but he welcomes the extra traffic.

Loewen’s family business, along with his wife Angelina and their five children have 35 acres of strawberries being picked right now, with 12 acres going in per year to stay in business as old plants die off.

He thought there might be more plants that die off this year and said he wasn’t excited about checking out his field after the warm winter with nearly no snow cover. But the plants made it through the barely freezing months.

“I was very amazed that our berries came through the winter looking great,” Loewen said. “I noticed very little winter kill which surprised me.”

The spring on the other hand was a little harder to deal with, as so much rain meant they weren’t able to get their hands as dirty.

But strawberries grew anyway, to the joy of families who have eagerly been grabbing handfuls of the small red fruits directly off the vine and into a bucket, or mouth.