Red sunshine ripe for picking
Published 10:01 pm Thursday, April 21, 2016
Savannah Toy, 1, of Chesapeake nibbles one of her first strawberries at Lilley Farms in Western Branch, with a little help from her mother, Crystal Toy.
Plump, juicy red strawberries are ripe and ready for the plucking, as most pick-your-own strawberry patches around Suffolk opened this week.
“We’re going to go home and eat them for lunch,” said Carol Hollowell, who was at Faith Farms’ two-acre field off Lake Prince Road on opening day Thursday.
Carol Hollowell pays for her basket of strawberries on opening day at Faith Farms’ pick-your-own patch off U.S. 460.
Oliver Farms Produce, outside of Chuckatuck, also opened Thursday, trying to clear berry-laden plants ahead of Friday’s projected rain. Evans Farms, located off Wilroy Road, opened late last week.
Lilley Farms opened its biggest patch — four acres in Western Branch — on Wednesday. The farm’s North Suffolk field, on Bennetts Pasture Road, will open next week, said Carol Lilley. With another week, Faith Farms’ second field, on Raleigh Drive, should be ready to open, according to owner Ryan Williams.
“It’s been steady. We’ve probably had 100 people out here picking today,” said Oliver Farms’ owner Pam Oliver, estimating that people had picked 64 quarts by 2 p.m. Thursday.
Despite a late frost, berries are plentiful and evenly shaped, she said.
No growers in Suffolk had major frost damage this year, said Marcus Williams, extension agent for Suffolk. Temperatures have fluctuated heavily and frost has forced farmers to cover their row crops once this year, he said.
Long before they finished picking at Lilley Farms, Crystal Toy was already thinking about the possibilities — starting with strawberry shortcake for dessert and a batch of strawberry jam.
