Strawberry season is coming to a close for farms around Portage la Prairie, including Lost Creek Acres, where the final days of picking are now underway.
Owner Jane Giesbrecht says recent rainfall has helped stretch things out at the berry patch.
“We’re actually still going,” she says. “It’s slowed down quite a bit here. We just keep getting these little half inch to 3rd of an inch rains and they just kind of have prolonged things nicely for us. We’ll probably have one or two more days left here.”
While this year didn’t quite reach the same heights as last season, Giesbrecht says they’re pleased with how things turned out.
“It exceeded our expectations for this year for sure. We were very happy with things.”
Timing of rainfall makes a difference
She says a stretch of hot, dry weather early on had them concerned about the crop, but the situation improved just in time.
“We weren’t sure,” Giesbrecht adds. “Things just looked dry and it was a little bit hot there for a while. The plants were looking a bit stressed out, but we got rain just in time to keep things going. All the berries really seemed to just enjoy the heat and the rains really helped for sure.”
Although Giesbrecht doesn’t have exact figures yet, she gives a general idea of how many baskets were going out at the height of the season.
“On average, I would say about 40 baskets an evening go out of here for U-pick and then during the day we’ve averaged about 35 for pre-pick just depending on kind of the crew that we have. At our peak we had over almost 200 baskets coming off the field every day."
Last few days of picking ahead
With smaller berries now on the plants, the pace has slowed, but sweetness levels are still high.
“We’re anticipating probably two days here,” Giesbrecht continues. “We’ve got a few last-minute orders here and the berries are smaller. They’re still really sweet, but they’re smaller. It’s taking longer to pick a basket for us, at least right now.”
She expects to wrap up within the next couple of days, but plans to offer a few more chances for late-season visitors.
Giesbrecht says there’s still time for anyone looking to get one last taste of summer.
- with files from Brittany Boschman
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