It’s U-Pick Time Picking Your Own Produce Can Be Great, Economical Fun For Families And Farmers Alike
Rays of sunlight peaked through the clouds as the Auten family squatted in the strawberry patch, filing yellow buckets - and their mouths - with as many of the juicy, red morsels as both could hold.
The Autens - Dick, Linda, Elizabeth and Reta - were among the dozen or so people who invaded the neat, green rows at Carver Farms in East Farms for the opening of U-pick strawberry season in the Spokane Valley.
Some plans to make jam. Others will bake pies. Still others will pile their plates high with shortcake, strawberries and whipped cream. A few will eat them plain.
BJ’s Produce, tucked away in the trees above Upriver Drive across the river from Felts Field, was one of the first to open his U-pick farm. Although strawberry pickers were small in number at first, business has picked up.
‘(The strawberries) were ready earlier this year than the last couple of years,” owner Matt Collin said. “I think people were not ready for them yet.”
Marilyn Tanner was ready, though.
The 30-year-old mother of two planned to pick, can, freeze, bake and eat strawberries until her heart was content - or at least until she and her family had enough to last through the winter.
“You get a better price,” Tanner said. “You enjoy doing it yourself because you know it’s fresh.”
Tanner’s sister, Terri Rainey, 28, and their mother, Jeanie Marsan, were also among the pickers. The three straddled rows at Carver Farms and picked feverishly, hoping the approximately 75 pounds they planned to pick would be enough.
“If we can keep our boys away from them,” Tanner said, referring to her sons, Rainey’s two sons and both of their husbands. “They are all at my house and they will all descend upon the strawberries once we get back. They informed us of that before we left.”
Tanner, Rainey and Marsan were among the first pickers on opening day of strawberry season at Carver Farms. Marv and Joanne Carver own the farm, which opened for the season a few weeks earlier, selling herbs and flowers.
BJ’s opened for its 10th season early in May, offering a variety of perennials and herb plants. It will be open throughout the summer, and pickers will harvest asparagus, raspberries and an assortment of other plants until early October.
Collin and his wife, Corrin, run BJ’s, a small fruit, vegetable, flower and herb farm. They have no hired help to pull weeds, fill ready-picked orders or do any other odd jobs around the 5-acre plot. Collin likes it that way.
“If it naturally grows into it, I might hire somebody someday,” Collin said. But until that time, he plans to continue adding to the business “a little bit at a time.”
For those who don’t have time to pick it themselves, there is Tom Hog Produce.
Owner Tom Dhaenens works from “dawn ‘til dark” to harvest the 15-acre farm and run the small store on the edge of his lot at 32nd and Best. Dhaenens employs only one picker to harvest the raspberries and many varieties of vegetables he grows.
“I would just as soon pick tomatoes and sell them at U-pick prices,” said Dhaenens, who has spent the last 38 years in the farming business, including the last 11 running Tom Hog Produce.
Dhaenens figures he saves enough each year in overhead, which includes insurance costs, without worrying about the U-pickers wrecking his plants.
Carver Farms, in its 18th season, has had a favorable experience with U-pick, however.
The 22 different fruits, vegetables and plants Marv and Joanne Carver cultivate on their 130 acres off Idaho Road near the state line are all U-picked. The Carvers’ 21-year-old son, Scott, and a handful of others maintain the fields, direct picking and parking and serve as cashiers for the six-month picking season which ends with pumpkins in late October.
Carver Farms also offers guided tours to school groups.
“Years ago, people came to gather the product,” Marv Carver said. “Now they come for fun. We observe it more as an entertainment for people.
“It used to be people would go to the grocery store. Now the farm is a place to go for family fun. We feel it is important that people have a place to go.”
The Auten family, from Priest River, Idaho, found their place last year.
“Last year was the first year we got into (picking),” Linda Auten said. “But, we’re going to come every year now.”
Many other families - strawberry-stained children and parents alike - have also come.
“If the sun is shining and it’s a Saturday,” Joanne Carver said, “it will be busy.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: The harvest season According to Washington State University’s Spokane County Cooperative Extension office, this is when Valley-grown fruits and vegetables will typically be ready for harvest: Apricots: mid-July through September Apples: August through winter Beans: July Beets: July Broccoli: July Cabbage: September until winter Carrots: August until winter Cherries: July and August Corn: late July Cucumbers: July through Sept. Dill: July and August Grapes: September through mid-October Melons: late August and September Nectarines: August and September Onions: August Peaches: August and Sept. Pears: September until winter Peas: late June and early July Peppers: mid-August Potatoes: September until winter Plums and prunes: mid-August through October Pumpkins: late September until winter Raspberries: July Squash: late September until winter Strawberries: June Tomatoes: mid-August