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Running a Berry Farm |
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A month later, it's time to take the winter straw covering off
the plants. This insulates them and retains the cold, so that
they don't begin to grow on an uncharacteristically warm winter
day only to freeze and die later when the temperatures drop
again. Although we uncover the plants using a tractor, we still
take days to go over the entire farm by hand, dragging the remaining
straw off every plant with a pitchfork so that each can have
full access to the sun. Walking up and down the strawberry rows
in the spring sunshine is one of the season's first outside
jobs. After winter, it's invigorating to be outdoors to see
new plants budding.
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| Working
the fields. |
By May, the ground has usually thawed enough to plant next year's
crop. Two people sit on the planter attached to the back of
the tractor and methodically insert plants until the entire
field is filled with rows of new strawberry plants. Although
we plant by machine, we also walk every row to ensure that the
plants were deposited at the correct depth and that there are
no gaps in a row. They don't look like much, but in a few weeks,
tiny green buds will confirm that we did it right. If there
are any plants that aren't doing well, we replace them by hand
with a healthier plant. We also check over the other fields
to ensure the older plants are growing well and to pull any
weeds, which can quickly take over a field. My grandmother always
insisted that strawberries picked in a weedy field take on the
taste of the weeds.
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Other Articles from this Issue |
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