Last year was a hard lesson in trying to grow as many strawberries as we can sell. We planted a lot and the harvest was never ending, which had everyone dreading the harvest days. Because so much time was spent harvesting, we got behind on other farm tasks like tomato planting. We learned that a diverse farm like ours that's trying to provide a diverse selection, requires a lot of time off farm for deliveries, and is constantly planting the next season's crops cannot get buried in the demands of one crop, especially when its the worst one on the whole list of crops to harvest. Strawberries never grow up off the ground, so the whole harvest season is basically crawling on the ground to find the berries. Everyone on the farm hates strawberry harvest, and we feel guilty having our employees pick them for hours at a time twice a week while we are tending to other managerial tasks on the farm. As one apprentice last year said, "they really don't taste as good after you've harvested so many." Think of the poor farm workers in longer growing seasons like Florida and California who pick them for months on end on huge farms!
All this to say if you were a member last season and fondly remember the abundance of available strawberries, this is why you are not seeing such a flood this year. We hope to continue to provide a modest amount for everyone for the next few weeks (there are a few extra pints to purchase under "extras" for this week) until the hot weather forces them to fizzle out. Luckily we all have blueberries to look forward to when the strawberries stop.....not only because blueberries are delicious but the harvest is done standing up!
