Strawberry FAQs
I know I probably have you so confused as to why and how I still have fresh strawberries well into fall in Wisconsin.
Aren’t strawberries just a June thing?!?
And if you’ve been able to try some, you are probably also wondering how they are the best darn strawberries you’ve ever smelled or tasted!?
Without further ado… Let me share.
The June Strawberries that we (and many other farmers) had this year in June grow based on how long the day light is in early summer. That’s why we have berries right around the summer solstice. They know to flower and produce fruit when the days are LONG. They only have berries for a few short weeks in June.
The big kids in our June strawberry patch 2024.
The strawberries that I am harvesting now on the last day of September and hope to still harvest for a good month yet are different than our June bearing strawberries.
These strawberries can produce fruit as long as it is the right temperature. Between 45 and 85 degrees.
We planted the plants in May this year. Let them grow all summer and once we got below 85 they started the flower and produce berries. They do not like to grow in the peak of summer.
We hope to have berries through Halloween, maybe even beyond!
We also planted these special strawberries in high tunnel greenhouses that we purchased with our vacation rental house with hopes that we can extend the fresh strawberries season well into fall each year.
Justin holding a bucket of fresh strawberries in one of our greenhouses September 2024.
It was no small task to get these greenhouses up and running after they were sitting vacant for a few years but that’s a blog post for another day!
Are we Certified Organic?
Yes, we are by MOSA.
The decision to get certified organic was pretty easy one with the strawberries. With such a soft skin, strawberries easily soak up what’s in their environment.
Have you seen the EWG’s dirty dozen list? Strawberries are always the top of the list.
Plus this is where my family and I spend a lot of time and my children eat a TON of strawberries so of course I want everything to be clean and healthy for us all.
Ok, so now if you’ve tried our strawberries, you are wondering, “How in the heck are you growing the best TASTING and SMELLING strawberries I have ever had?!?”
Well, with that, all I can say is the secret is in the soil.
As regenerative farmers, we spend a lot of time working on what’s going on below ground to help whatever is growing above ground.
In one teaspoon of healthy soil there are over 1 billion microbes! So if you feed those microbes correctly, they help transport the nutrients to the plants and healthy plants are what gives it the mouth watering taste.
Also the soil here in the Driftless region of WI is unique in that the glaciers didn’t scrape this land away making the soil here antient and gives food grown here unique flavors and nutrition.
What about the SMELL?!? Our local coop store had some of our berries out in a center display and as soon as you walked into the store all you could smell was the strawberries. And that store usually already smells amazing with fresh coffee brewing or the goodies from the bakery and deli counter.
Strawberry aren’t even really a berry. Strawberries are actually part of the ROSE bush family. That’s their secret to their irresistible smell. Being picked at the PEAK of ripeness also helps.
They make it from the field to the store in the same day!
What a dream to get to do this with my family and then have them sold at our local coop store!
I hope this helps clean up any confusion.
If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
It is such an honor that you trust me to grow food for you and your family.
It literally make my heart swell when you tell me how much you are enjoying them, or how thankful you are to have such amazing fresh fruit to put in your child’s lunch box for school.
I take that responsibility pretty seriously because what we put in our bodies does really matter and I’m just so humbled that you trust me to do this for you.
Thank you!