It is an interesting question: are we drawn to the land by our heritage as farmers? Is the idea of picking our own fruit simply a romantic notion… or just an easy means for local farmers to cut back on their labor costs? Perhaps it works both ways.
Many northshore families have begun to sojourn to the “parish” in search of perfect berries. A picking excursion is a sure-fire way to build family memories and encourage our children to experience the land. Oh, and fresh strawberries are pretty great as well.
Since the early 1990s, Americans have been slowly increasing our consumption of fruit with slightly more than half being processed fruit and approximately 45% being fresh fruit. USDA reports that half of all Americans eat a fruit serving every day; but that we generally get only about half the fruit volume recommended by the friendly food pyramid that our school counselors once taught us. Most fruit is consumed by those under 5 or over 70. Except of course if you happen to live in the Florida parishes region of Louisiana – home to perhaps the perfect soil for strawberries.
In fact, Louisiana strawberries are renowned for their color, texture and flavor. The deep sandy soil of Tangipahoa and Livingston Parishes are ideal. The LSU Ag Center reports that our state has approximately 50 commercial strawberry farms with just over 300 acres dedicated to the queen of all berries.
The only thing better than ordering a bowl of fresh strawberries—is picking your own!
Families can make the short trip to any number of family-run farms and pick a flat or a bucket of berries on their own. My family recently descended upon Blahut Farm near Springfield and loaded buckets for $7 each. We got to eat a few more while picking and filling our buckets. They were divine. Our fingers and lips were red and we now have the family photos to prove it. Add in a few sandwiches for a picnic and we had the recipe for a perfect day.
Several other families had the same idea. On the day we visited, one large family reunion had about half an acre to themselves while another half acre had a dozen or more amateur pickers working a single row to fill their bucket. And don’t even think about stepping over a row of berries. Good farms have rules you know.
J.C. Blahut has farmed this land for over 50 years, just as his grandfather did before him. “We had a wet spring and so the season started a little late this year,” he advised. “We planted 10 acres in October and started prepping the vines in mid-winter. We were picking ripe berries every third day and now we need to pick the plants every other day.”
That’s a lot of work. More than the weekend pickers can muster. So, Blahut and the other dozen or more pick-your-own operators also supplement the public days with paid pickers to pull the commercial crops out. Blahut uses a dozen pickers to work the ten acres of strawberries every other day during April and May. “A good picker can average 3 or 4 flats per hour”. Our family needed a full half-hour just to pull about a flat worth. Of course, we needed to pose for various photo ops as well.
The national trend for berry picking (see the website at www.pickyourown.org) may owe some of its origins to the cut-your-own Christmas tree trend that started about 25 years ago. In fact, St Tammany Parish leads the local region in Christmas tree harvest with just under 2,000 yule-tide trees harvested each season. That compares to the hundreds of pints of blackberries (short season) and the more than 12,000 pounds of blueberries picked each summer. However, many more are picked on private property and not harvested for commercial sale.
Among those farms allowing public picking are:
Livingston Parish: Blahut Farm (225)294-5073 in Springfield, Landry-Poche Farm (225)294-2631 in Holden and Mrs Heather’s Pumkin Patch & Strawberry Farm (225) 567-3493 in Albany (also includes petting zoo and allows school field trips).
Tangipahoa Parish: Berry Hill Farm (985) 878-6037 in Loranger.
St Tammany Parish: Blue Harvest (985) 809-9967 in Covington, Ridemore Ranch (985) 875-1965 in Covington and Sunhillow Farm (985) 809-8082 in Pearl River (includes Mayhaw and Muscadine berries in summer).
Jim Currie is a lifelong marketing farm hand who “picked” the profession at an unripe age. But the pursuit has been sweet and the joy of seeing an idea grow is still blue ribbon thrill. Ouch, that’s corny. If you have a company or entrepreneurial idea that needs to be harvested in this column, drop Jim a line at [insert e-mail].