THUNDER BAY - The late start to the strawberry season made for a busy opening day on Monday at Belluz Farms.
“People picked over 1000 litres of strawberries," said Jodi Belluz, calling it one of the biggest starts to the picking season yet.
Belluz said it's been a late start to the picking season due to the cool and wet conditions in the spring.
“That’s definitely delayed everything for all farmers, and all crops across the region.”
Despite it, Belluz said it’s still not the latest in their history, and the strawberries are coming along nicely.
“There’s really nothing like a local berry,” Belluz said. “It’s a completely different berry -- we’re growing for flavour, not shelf-stableness like the grocery stores.”
Xavier Cameron had been to Belluz Farms many times before, and he said he could taste the difference from store-bought strawberries.
“I find them sweeter, and in the grocery store… some of them are rotten,” Cameron said. “Here you can pick ones that aren’t rotten and you get a good bucket full of them.”
Emily Seminowicz’s two children may have been too young articulate how good the berries were, but she insisted the kids were enjoying every juicy morsel.
“It’s pretty great,” Seminowicz said. “It’s a nice way to get the kids outside and make them work for their fruit.”
Seminowicz said the activity is a good way for their family to support local produce.
“I think it’s really important for the kids to see what, locally, people are doing for food around here. It gets them involved right away.”
Belluz hopes that the strawberry-picking season will last until the end of August, and added that there will be a variety of different produce to choose from for the rest of the summer.
“Peas and Saskatoon berries should be ready in the next seven to 10 days, and beans will be shortly after that,” Belluz said. “Then we’ll have stuff like beets and potatoes, and veggies after that.”
Belluz says the hours for picking are dependent on weather, and encourages people to stay up to date by calling their phone line at 475-5181, or visiting their Facebook page.
