VIRGINIA BEACH — Strawberry season in southeast Virginia has arrived early, and farmers want pickers to head to the fields as soon as possible.
“It’s right at the peak,” said Barbara Henley of Henley Farms in the Pungo section of Virginia Beach. “Now is the time to come.”
Henley, who is also a city council member, said strawberries are usually thought to be ripe around Mother’s Day or later — but not this year.
“Don’t wait until the end of May because they won’t be here,” she said.
Several other U-pick farms across the region are also encouraging customers to hurry to the fields by sharing photos of ripe, plump berries on social media.
“We are loaded with the sweetest, beautiful fruit so bring the big buckets!!” Chesapeake’s Hickory Ridge Farm posted on its Facebook page on Saturday.
So why are the berry plants popping early this season? Henley’s son, Bruce, speculated that it may have had something to do with the blast of snow and cold weather the area experienced in February, which caused the plants to go dormant, he said.
After the cold snap, they bloomed later than usual. Then warm, sunny spring weather kicked the process into high gear.
“When they started growing, they just went crazy,” Bruce Henley said.
David Trimmer, Virginia Beach agriculture director, said favorable weather plays a key part.
“The berries are plentiful, and all we need is consumers,” Trimmer said.
Strawberry plants produce the largest fruit at the start of the season, and more sunshine equals sweeter berries, Barbara Henley said. She and her husband, Winky, have been growing strawberries on their Pungo farm for 60 years. They planted three varieties this season, and, true to its name, Sweet Charlie is lick-your-lips delicious.
“Yum, yum,” said Ruth VandeRiet, 81, of Virginia Beach, who loaded two containers full of the red fruit into her trunk on Monday afternoon. It was her second visit to Henley Farms this season with her husband, Jim, 81. She needed to stock up again after making strawberry preserves, strawberry pie and waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.
“Our family is just woofing them down,” she said.
Ed McKeon, 60, and his wife, Neng Magan, 70, recently moved to Virginia Beach from Texas and heard about U-pick strawberries from new friends.
“It seems like they have so many,” Magan said, cupping several berries in the palm of her hand. She plans to freeze them for smoothies throughout the year.
Last fall, southeast Virginia farmers were concerned a strawberry plant disease could have threatened the spring harvest. But a dry, mild spring may have helped to fend it off.
Henley’s farm on Charity Neck Road is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and strawberries cost $4.19 a pound. The 19 cents is a throwback to 60 years ago when that was the farm’s price per pound.
After the strawberries are gone, blackberries will be ready for picking in early June.
“There’s something this year about the berries,” Barbara Henley said. “There’s going to be a world of them.”
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, [email protected]
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