A U-pick strawberry farm just west of Portage la Prairie is off to a strong start this season, despite a dry spring and patchy rainfall across the region.
Located in the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk near Bagot, Lost Creek Acres officially opened to the public this past weekend and was planning for a busy Canada Day.
Berries holding up despite dry conditions
Even with minimal rainfall this year, the berry patch is producing more than expected.
“We’re seeing lots and lots of strawberries, quite a few green ones still that have to ripen,” said owner Jane Giesbrecht. “It looks pretty promising. We’ve got a hot week ahead of us, so we're excited.”
To help the plants along, Jane says they’ve been keeping irrigation consistent.
“We’re definitely keeping it watered,” she notes. “The plants wouldn’t be very happy if we didn’t. It’s hard to beat an overhead rain, but we do what we can.”
U-pick sees full launch in third year
Now in its third year of operation, the farm is offering a full U-pick season for the first time, having previously focused mostly on pre-picked orders.
“We realized we can’t really keep up to all the picking ourselves,” remarks Jane. “We’ve just got an acre of strawberries right now.”
While they're still learning what “normal” looks like for their growing season, Jane says they’re ahead of last year’s timeline.
“We still don’t quite know what normal is yet,” she continues. “But this year we started yesterday [Sunday], and we had about 60 to 65 baskets come off an acre.”
Hoping for rain and bulkier berries
Jane says some rainfall in the coming days would go a long way in helping the berries size up.
“We’d love a rain,” she mentions. “I live in Austin, we got rain last night [Sunday] and then I came out here to the field and there was nothing. Just one of those years where we can’t seem to do enough dancing to get any water.”
She notes that while the plants are doing well, the heat and lack of natural moisture can be hard on them.
U-pick offers value and experience
With pre-picked baskets going for $25 and U-pick priced at $20, Jane says visitors have a couple of good reasons to come out.
“If you’re coming out for 10 baskets, then you-pick is the cheaper option,” she says. “There’s a bit of savings. It’s definitely a little bit of an experience where everybody likes to take a picture out in the field or have a few berries while they’re picking.”
And unlike last year’s wet season, she says this summer has been a lot more comfortable.
“We’re not dealing with the mosquitoes that we dealt with last year when it was so wet,” Jane adds.
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