Strawberries are a fruit beloved by many.
A healthy treat, it is a common ingredient in desserts, jellies, and breads.
Most of us are unaware of just how difficult it is to maintain an acre of strawberries plants, though.
“We’ll have to harvest and sell a lot more strawberries just to cover the costs of the plants, let alone everything else,” Robin Emerson, owner of the Veggie Shack, said. “It doesn’t help that we’ve already lost some plants to deer and the weather.”
Deer are an enormous obstacle when it comes to growing strawberries; they’re a big culprit regarding the destruction of plants.
“Nick [my son] has to sit out there and guard the fields every night, just to keep the deer off of them. It’s crazy. He has to drive back-and-forth some nights, because the deer are just that persistent,” Robin said.
Extreme weather–both hot and cold–is equally as destructive.
“We have to cover the strawberry plants with several large frost sheets to keep the frost off of them,” Clarence Emerson, local farmer, said. “It helps keep the deer off, too–but we have to remove those sheets when it gets hot, because it’ll burn the plants underneath. I usually need a lot of help with covering and removing the sheets. It’s a challenge to get those things to cooperate.”
Strawberries are picked every other day and sold for $22 per bucket.
With how much these farmers endure, that’s more than worth it.
“We honestly can’t sell them for any less because it’s such a pain to maintain the strawberry plants,” Robin said. “We’re not making much profit off of them, anyway. We enjoy the labors of our harvest, though. They’re delicious and popular with the customers.
