Agriculture
Cool spring puts small delay on strawberry season
Strawberry season is nearly ripe for the picking.
John Jolivette of Jolivette Family Farms in West Salem planned to start picking strawberries for retail by Friday.
“I’m not sure when pick-your-own will open up,” Jolivette said. “It will probably be another week after that.”
A cool spring caused a delay, but so far weather has been favorable.
“When we get a lot of ripe fruit, they don’t like a lot of rain,” Jolivette said. “We’ve been alright so far. They still need a lot of water every week. They need about an inch of rain a week.”
Although weather has cooperated, animals have not. Jolivette said the business lost about three of their nine acres of strawberries to deer.
Their kohlrabi and onions are ripe, and he adds raspberries are coming in well this year.