Farmers are hoping for a change in the weather to have a productive picking season

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By Stephanie Kukkonen
Times & Transcript Staff

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Strawberry season has begun, and although it's come early and crops look good, farmers say that the weather needs to change for the season to be productive.

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GREG AGNEW/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

It's that time of year again, and actually strawberry picking time at Utopia U-Pick in Stilesville is a bit early. Here, Kristianna Draper finishes off a flat of berries this week.

Jeff Everett, owner and operator of Utopia U-Pick and Magnetic Hill Winery on Gorge Road, says that the region desperately needs some dry and windy weather to keep crops healthy.

"I know we're all having a problem with humidity and moisture this year," says Everett. "I'm hopeful, but there doesn't seem to be any dry weather in the forecast."

Utopia U-Pick is about a six-acre farm. Everett says it used to be 12 acres, but when his family grew up he lost the man power to maintain that amount of fruit.

"I'm getting older and I just can't keep up anymore," he says. "The average age of farmers in the area is much older."

Utopia U-Pick has been open since Sunday evening. Everett says their hours are different everyday and people interested in visiting can call 394-7629 to get an idea what the hours are on any given day and what the conditions of the fields are, as well as make an appointment.

"If we have a real big group out one day they can pick us out," says Everett, "so then we'll probably stay closed until we have another crop of perfectly ripe berries, probably a day or two."

Right now the berries ripe for picking are big and juicy. Everett says near the end of the season, in about three weeks, the berries will be smaller, but still tasty.

"I find the later berries have an incredibly sweet taste to them," he says. "They're smaller, but they're pretty special."

Prices for fruit at Utopia is $1.50 per pound. Everett says they don't use many chemicals on their fruit, so people should be aware that any holes slugs have made in the fruit are completely harmless.

"They're not pretty, but they don't hurt," says Everett, "We could have used chemicals, but we didn't know they would be such a problem."

Everett says, like all farmers, he is remaining hopeful for the season. He says this is only the third or fourth time in 20 years of business that he's been able to open for Canada Day and he's keeping his fingers crossed the weather forecast changes.

"I'm hopeful for the weather to change," he says. "We had a pretty nice April and May and the plants made it through the winter well so that's why we're open earlier. We have a field right now that has some really nice quality fruit in it."