That juicy berry most associate with summer — the strawberry — began appearing at farmers markets across Schuylkill County this week.
Consumers may see a slightly higher price this year, based on supply, and the strawberries have ripened a bit later.
A frost three weeks ago forced many producers to irrigate their crop to ensure there was a layer of protection between the delicate berries and the damaging frost. Most strawberries were saved and look hearty. However, this year, one producer is eliminating the pick-your-own portion of his business, due to the number of strawberries lost to frost; while another producer is trying a new, late-growing variety this year.
Barron “Boots” Hetherington and his wife, Robin, hope to offer the “Malwina” variety later this month at B&R Farms, 129 Strawberry Lane, Ringtown. They’ve been growing strawberries for 37 years.
“It’s a new variety that was just released last year, and it’s just putting blossoms out now,” Barron Hetherington said Monday. He said the Malwina strawberry plants were planted last April and this will be the first year they will be picked.
Other varieties offered at B&R Farms are the Wendy, which is an early bloom, and early harvest, dark-colored strawberry good for freezing and jam and jelly-making; the All Star, which is a popular, larger, bright red berry known for good flavor; and the AC Valley Sunse, which is another later variety.
They grow eight acres of strawberries, making B&R Farms one of the largest producers of the fruit in the county. At top yield, B&R Farms will produce 4,000 quarts of strawberries per acre, up to nearly three tons total, the couple said. They just began picking their strawberry crop this week and opened their farm for pick-your-own customers on Tuesday. The berries cost $1.40 per pound for pick-your-own. Picked quarts are also available. The farm is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Hetherington’s said they battled the frost, as well, but fortunately their 200-sprinkler irrigation system was successful in saving their strawberries. At the county’s west end, farmers fought to maintain most of their crop, too.
“We lost about 30 percent to frost,” said Brett Stehr, who co-owns Kenny Stehr & Sons Farm, Pitman, with his brother, Henry. The farm, at 34 Bull Road, does have berries, but just not as many. The brothers raise four acres of several varieties, averaging about 24,000 quarts of strawberries per year, or about 6,000 to 8,000 pounds per acre.
“This cooler weather has slowed them up even more, but they do look good,” Stehr said of those remaining. “The bulk of our crop is going to be in next week,” he said.
The farm is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is closed Sunday. For years, he said, his family’s farm has supplied the fruit for the Berrysburg Church Strawberry Festival.
Stehr said during the frost, he checked the thermometer at 2 a.m. and it was 31 degrees, and by 4 a.m., the temperature had dropped to 28 degrees.
“We ran the irrigation, until about 8 a.m., but we could only cover about half of our acreage,” he said. Stehr started picking the fruit Friday, but decided to halt the pick-your-own option. He suspects prices will be slightly up, possibly $5 per quart wholesale. The typical strawberry harvest season is 24 days to four weeks.
Meanwhile, John Heim, McKeansburg, began picking his first crop of strawberries Saturday.
“The crop looks fairly good,” he said.
Heim raises a third acre of Early Glow, AC Wendy and All Star varieties. He, too, had to irrigate his berries three weeks ago to avoid a frost.
“We started irrigating at 11:30 (p.m.) when it hit 33 degrees. At 5 (a.m.), I had 29 degrees. We expected that and were ready for it, so we had no frozen berries,” he said.
Heim’s Fruit Farm, 1705 Chestnut St., New Ringgold, is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There are approximately 17 strawberry producers in Schuylkill County with 23 acres in strawberry production, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, the latest data available.
Ag tourism has become a large part of the strawberry farm appeal.
“People have picked here for two, or three generations,” Robin Hetherington said. “They love to bring their grandchildren and relatives from out of town, and they compare their kids’ heights to the wagon, or the buckets.”
That experience is what draws families, she said, in addition to the fresh produce.
“It’s a chance to get back to nature and show their kids how fruit grows. It’s an opportunity to make that farm-to-face connection,” she said.
Kathy Demchak, Penn State Senior Extension Associate, said harvest across the state was about a week behind normal.
“Some growers are reporting losses from the cold temperatures, and some are reporting very heavy yields. I expect that overall yields will be maybe slightly below average due to losses from cold early in the season, and wet hot conditions during harvest for some parts of the state,” she said.