Category Archives: InField Links

🍓Strawberry Tips

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Strawberry Season starts late May and lasts for about 4 weeks.

Rules

  • Do NOT throw the berries.
  • Children must be monitored at all times.
  • As with other fruit, sampling is OK, but gluttony is theft.  We want you to know what you are picking, but please do not eat more than a few. 
  • Do not wander to other fields.  Only pick the fruit that is advertised as being ripe.
  • It is OK to sit a short while and enjoy our farm.  But please understand that we are not a park, and need to cover our costs by selling food.

How to Pick the Best Berry!

  • Color is a primary indicator of ripeness.  If it isn’t red, it isn’t ripe.
  • Go for berries that are red all the way to the tip.
  • Pale or white shoulders = underripe (they won’t get sweeter later).
  • They should feel firm but not hard.
  • Mushy spots = overripe or starting to spoil.

Pro Tip: Smaller strawberries often pack more flavor than the giant show-offs!

After Picking Care

  • Washing is always recommended before eating fruit. 
  • Make sure the berries are fully dry before putting them in an air tight container in your fridge.
  • You can even place a towel at the bottom of your container to catch any lingering moisture.
  • First, wash and dry them, then cap the berries (slice off the green foliage),

Freezing Instructions

If you wish to freeze your strawberries;

  1. First, properly wash and dry you berries as instructed above
  2. Next, cap the berries (slice off the leafy crown and bit of white flesh). Feel free to even slice or dice them at this point.
  3. Then, lay them out on a baking sheet, make sure they aren’t touching.
  4. After that, place the baking sheet in a freezer overnight.
  5. Finally, scoop them into a plastic bag or container of your choosing.

You now have berries that will keep for up to a year and can be used for pies, jam/jelly, or any baked good of your choosing!

Varieties

  • Earliglow – Small to medium, very early, the “reference” berry for great taste!
  • Flavorfest – Medium to large, firm, very sweet, developed in Maryland
  • Keepsake – A new improved version of Flavorfest, developed by USDA in Maryland
  • AC Wendy – Medium to large, sweet mid-season berry
  • AC Valley Sunset – Large, glossy red, sweet. Late season berry

🫐Blueberry Tips

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Blueberry season starts in mid June and lasts for about 6 weeks.

Rules

  • Do NOT throw berries
  • Children must be monitored
  • As with other fruit, sampling is OK, but gluttony is theft.  We want you to know what you are picking, but please do not eat more than a few.  After all, you wouldn’t do it in Walmart, right?
  • Do not wander to other fields.   Only pick the fruit that is advertised as being ripe.
  • It is OK to sit a short while and enjoy our farm.  But please understand that we are not a park, and need to cover our costs by selling food.  We do not want to have to charge admission.

How to pick a good berry

Color is a primary indicator of ripeness.  If it isn’t blue, it isn’t ripe.

But just because it is blue doesn’t mean it is particularly sweet.  Like other fruits, the riper it is, the sweeter.   Like many other fruits, it is at peak sweetness just before it falls from the bush.   So we suggest holding your bucket under a cluster and gently rubbing your thumb across the top of the blueberry to encourage it to fall off.  The easier it comes away, the less tart it will be.

Late in the season, don’t be discouraged by small berries.  They are often the sweetest as they have had time to ripen completely and sweeten in the mid-summer sun.

After picking

Washing is always recommended before eating fruit. 

Refrigeration is highly recommended to keep your berries for a short time.

If you want to save your berries for more than a week or two, freeze dry berries in a single layer on a sheet tray.  After frozen, transfer to a freezer-safe ziplock or other container.  Individual frozen berries are a great treat!

Varieties:

  • Our first variety of the season is Duke (next to the road).  It lasts for about 3 weeks and is super easy to pick with lots of berries from toddler height to 5 feet.
  • Our second variety is Bluecrop (next to raspberries).  This is a tasty variety that usually has a large yield.  It is one of the industry standards.
  • Our third variety is Chandler.  This is a very large – and tasty! – blueberry.  Look for it near the top of “patch three”, which is above the Bluecrop.