That’s certainly true at the Joyer Adventure Farm in Lino Lakes. People are flocking to their strawberry patch this month.
“There’s something in us that just wants to get in the field,” said Doug Joyer who runs the Joyer Adventure Farm. “There’s nothing more delicious than eating a fresh, ripe, just picked strawberry.”
On a recent muggy Monday, plenty of people showed up to get some tasty treats.
“You can’t go wrong with strawberries,” said Mark Walmsley of Lino Lakes.
It appears to be a bumper crop at the Joyer farm as many of the pickers had buckets full of the juicy red nuggets
“We love it,” Walmsley said. “Pick the perfect berry. The sweetest one that you can possibly get. We’re gonna bring em back. We got some fruit. We got some rhubarb and we’re gonna have a little dessert. Strawberry-rhubarb dessert.”
Short season
Strawberry season in the North Metro comes and goes in a Minnesota minute.
“The window for Minnesota grown strawberries can be pretty short,” Joyer said. “We grow the Juneberry strawberries that produce a little bit bigger and yeah we have a short window. Last year our season was only 14 days long of pick your own strawberries.”
In 2024 the Joyer Farm got back into the strawberry business after shutting down for three decades.
“This is our second year of producing strawberries on the farm since we did it in the 90’s,” Joyer said. “We had a 30-year gap.”
That gap created pent up demand in the North Metro, as people went wherever they could to get some berries.
Strawberry fields aren’t forever
People are glad the berry patch is back. Because of growth in the suburbs and exburbs, strawberry fields aren’t forever in the Twin Cities.
“There’s plenty of berries,” Walmsley said. “Lots to pick. They’re ripe and ready.”
“I think it teaches the kids where their food comes from,” said Emily of Lino Lakes who came to the farm in pursuit of berries. “Then they get to go home and eat all their hard work and make a pie.”
Growing strawberries can be challenging.
“Strawberries are a hard crop to grow continuous for a long time,” Joyer said. “There can be a disease build up or other things that make it hard to produce ’em.”
Picking berries is also not easy.
“Yes definitely,” Emily said. “I can’t imagine doing this everyday. I’m an hour in and I’m sore.”
Despite the bending, crouching and kneeling, Emily had a successful day.
“There was a lot,” Emily said.
Said Walmsley: “There’s a variety of different berries to choose from and so we’re just trying to find the perfect row for picking them.”
At the Joyer farm visitors buy a certain size container and then pick the strawberries. They are allowed to put as many berries in the bucket as they want to.
