Here's some reports from around the state of the strawberry crop. (We're planning a trip to Rowe's in Rawsonville for Father's Day).
From the Detroit Free Press via FreshPlaza:
"It's not too hot and could be a little warmer," says Marsha DeGroot, who with her family has owned the Livingston County farm since 1978. "But the lovely winter with lots of snow made for a nice insulating blanket for the plants."
Pick-your-own strawberries will be $1.20 a pound at DeGroot's this year. Whittaker's strawberries sell for $1.25 a pound. And at Rowe's Produce Farm in Ypsilanti, the cost is $1.46 per pound, up 3 cents from last year.
From mlive.com again via FreshPlaza on the season in mid-Michigan:
Customers usually begin harvesting the fruit about June 14, but she said she probably will delay by five or more days because of cooler weather, frost warnings and bees not coming out to pollinate.
A June 8 story in the Marquette Mining Journal (via the Escanaba Press) about UP strawberries:
"There were also a few days where overnight lows dropped close to the freezing mark at the Delta County Airport, however, it is possible inland areas did drop to or below freezing," said Fleegel.
A call by the Daily Press to Victor Ledvina, owner of Ledvina's Strawberry Farm in Flat Rock was unsuccessful.
There was also no indication of when picking would begin at Ledvina's Strawberry Farm.
Dave Pellegrini, operator of Pellegrini's Strawberry Farm said they had been irrigating five out of the past eight nights to prevent the fragile blossoms from frosting over.
