THUNDER BAY — This weekend marked the start of Belluz Farms’ 51st strawberry picking season in Slate River Valley.
The farm typically sells its strawberries starting in the first week of July, between the third and fifth. These strawberries were primarily grown using organic methods and sustainably without the use of pesticides.
“It looks like a really great crop this year, just like last year, which means hopefully we’ll be picking every day and we’re looking at hopefully a nice long four-week season,” said Jodi Belluz, a partner at the farm.
With last year having started early around the end of June, the farm was off to a more normal start this year on July 4.
Belluz said she was unsure if they would get the same conditions as last year, as it felt like a rainier July so far.
However, she added that they'll see what happens.
“We’re really, really happy with the way last year went,” said Belluz.
The weather cooperated, said explained, allowing them to pick 21 days straight without a drop of rain during that period.
“That is not necessarily good for other crops in the fields, but wonderful when you’re trying to get a strawberry crop off because we can irrigate in the evenings,” said Belluz.
The strawberries also didn’t seem to mind the erratic weather in the spring, according to Belluz. Similar to last year, this weather initially posed concerns for their survival due to a lack of snow to insulate the berries before cold temperatures came into the region.
“Some years that can really throw things and we see lots of basically the plants aren’t thriving, so then we see a lower yield, but this year looks great for whatever reason, so we’ll take it,” said Belluz.
Belluz added that all of their typical Pick-Your-Own crops were also still on the farm, including the peas, beans and saskatoons that start very shortly.
Following these crops, she said the next ones up are raspberries and then cucumbers.
“Those are our main Pick-Your-Own crops, but then of course we grow lots of other vegetables that we pick for people like sweet corn and all the things that you can grow in our area,” said Belluz.
The farm has also expanded and improved its organization for its “pick your own kitchen garden” initiative, which started last year.
“It’s a way for people to come and get what they need for the week. And it was on a small scale last year and people really seem to like it, so we wrapped it up this year a little more, so we’re pretty excited about that,” said Belluz.
While there is a flat fee for visitors who come out for it, Belluz explained, they can go into the kitchen garden with a basket and fill it with a variety of different vegetables.
“It’s a field that has a mixture of a whole bunch of different types of vegetables on a small scale. So, we’re talking about like tomatoes or peppers or celery or all of those things that you go to the grocery store for and what we’re going to do is you can just pick by the basket and mix and match,” said Belluz.
The farm will be closed on Tuesday due to the forecasted 75 per cent chance of rain.
However, Belluz said the farm hopes people will come out just like they did last year, especially if they’ve made it through all the berries in their freezer and need to restock.
