It’s a good time to come pick strawberries.

This may seem late, but strawberries are still at their peak. They are thick on many rows. The average size has declined, but there are still some very big ones to be found. I have been picking about 2 flats per hour, and have picked over 5 flats in some rows. Some have spoiled because they were not picked in time, but the large majority are in excellent condition with more berries ripening each day.

We also plan to have a goodly quantity of berries at Princeton Farmers’ Market Saturday.

As the berry U-Pick manager this summer, I’ve heard many comments, complaints, and praises about the picking conditions from customers, which have helped me to evaluate the field conditions. The past few days at the strawberry U-Pick have been very encouraging, especially after the slow start last week. Picking has been fast - several customers picked full flats in 25 minutes on Wednesday morning - and the berries are in excellent condition. One woman told me “I’ve been coming here for about fifteen years and this is about the best picking I’ve ever seen.” Many other seasoned customers have told me that the berries are looking especially beautiful and that they were pleased by how fast the picking has been this week.

Monday we picked the most berries per day yet this year — and we covered about half the field. Large quantities of good berries are now available to pick. If you do not wish to pick your own, you may order some, or come to the Princeton or Spring Valley Markets.

Saturday, June 14 is Strawberry Festival.

The plans include strawberry shortcake from Plow Creek, hot lunch from the Boy Scouts, pulled pork sandwiches by the 4-H, fresh stawberries and bakery goodies from Plow Creek, opportunities to pick your own strawberries at Plow Creek, and town-wide garage and yard sales throughout Tiskilwa.

Strawberry Shortcake sales are planned to run from 11 A.M. until 1 P.M.

Children’s activities incuding games and face painting are also planned.

We will have a good quantity of strawberries at the Princeton Farmers’ Market Saturday, June 7. U-pick will open soon!

Also in Princeton we will have herbs, radishes, Swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, and Plow Creek Bakery goods.

Strawberry season has started — slowly. We had 20 pints at Tuesday market in Princeton, and should have more Saturday, but still not great quantities.

On Saturday, June 7, we plan to evaluate the strawberry field and decide when next week we will open for u-pick. Please check back.

We’ve found our first few ripe stawberries. We might have a few pints available for the first customers for the Tuesday June 3 afternoon Princeton Farmers’ Market at 3:30. There should be at least a limited quantity for the Saturday June 7 market. Depending on how fast they ripen, we’d expect we might be open for picking the week of June 9 - 14.

We had a good start last Saturday at the Princeton Farmers’ Market. This week we will again have rhubarb, spinach, salad greens, herbs, radishes, and Plow Creek Bakery goodies. Also another chance at our most nutritious (and that’s saying a lot — blueberries are fantastic) product - stinging nettles. Use them for tea or a cooked green. Great in quiche.

Tuesday afternoon/evening we start the new schedule - Tuesdays 3:30 - 7:00.

Sorry. It will be at least another week until enough strawberries for market are ripe. We’ve seen a few close enough to being ripe to be tempting. Warm weather in the forecast should speed the ripening.

I saw my first strawberry flowers of the year today. That means the first ripe strawberries will appear in about 4 weeks. This is a little behind the last few years, so we do not expect to have saleable quantities until the second week of June.

Last week we planted another 28 rows of strawberries: Jewels, Honeoye, and two new varieties, Wendy and Darselect. These replace a number of old, weedy, weakening rows that we disked under last year after harvest. Yesterday we removed the mulch on the overwintered strawberries. There are many healthy-looking plants, ready to grow. We expect ripe strawberries in early June.

The strawberries continue to beat expectations, with very good quality berries still available to the patient picker. We will be that patient picker Thursday morning, and you can witness the fruits of our hard work with another good supply of strawberries at Valley Flowers in Spring Valley. Blueberries should also be available through most of our 8:30-1PM stint, along with peas, lettuce, herbs, chard and various greens. Such extended red/blue overlap of fresh-picked berries is almost as rare as the cicadas (who have become our Blueberry U-Pick mascot). Enjoy them while you can!

Good news for Princeton Market shoppers Tuesday morning! Portions of our strawberry field are still harboring tasty Jewels, and we expect a good supply of strawberries for the Tuesday Farmer’s Market. They will accompany the blueberries, peas, herbs and salad greens for a colorful display from 8:30 to 2:00 at Darius Miller Park by the train station.