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There’s nothing quite like fresh Tennessee strawberries and after challenging weather events, growers are ready to welcome customers.
Lee Maddox: Berry Season is Here. Hello and welcome everyone, for Tennessee Home and Farm Radio, I’m Lee Maddox.
Miranda Head: If you’ve never had a homegrown berry, you’ve gotta go get your strawberry. Go pick them yourself or come get them prepicked.
Lee Maddox: And yep, there’s nothing quite like fresh Tennessee strawberries and after somewhat of a late start from the cold weather, growers across the state welcome all to come and experience and taste for yourself the difference a homegrown strawberry makes. Miranda Head of Heads Farm in Robertson County says after working to protect the crop from those late freezes, they are good to go with their pick your own operation.
Miranda Head: We came through really really well. It was a battle for about four days with the freezing weather, but we had half of our berries covered and the other half we did irrigation on. We lost a few, but the good Lord has blessed us and we’ve gotten an amazing crop this year, amazing berries and we’re rockin and rollin. We’re on week number two.
Lee Maddox: At Hyde Farms in Loudon County, owner Michel Hyde says for their 11th season, it has been a challenge to save this year’s strawberry crop and even though it might be a smaller yield, the quality is still there.
Mitchell Hyde: What we’ve been seeing so far the customers are happy, what we’ve got. Good tasting berries. We also furnish a playground area and petting zoo for the little children to spend their time out here too on, but berries are good. It’s just probably might probably be a low production year, but we’re gonna be picking.
Lee Maddox: In his 23 years of strawberry production, Jimmy McCulley of Amazing Acres in White County says he’s never seen the weather quite like this year, even going back to that flash freeze at Christmas that may have had an impact, but he does know right now the blooms and the berries are coming on.
Jimmy McCulley: If we can get on into it a little more, maybe we’ll get on into warmer days, it does look promising considering what all it did go through this here.
Lee Maddox: And for Tennessee Home and Farm Radio, I’m Lee Maddox.
