SAD 1 school farm seeing above average strawberry crop
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
ONE-YEAR-OLD Payton Griffin, of Presque Isle, enjoyed eating the strawberries at the SAD 1 Educational Farm as much as she did picking them last Thursday during a community U-Pick.
According to Aaron Buzza, farm manager, between 16,000-20,000 quarts of strawberries will be picked this summer.
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
PRESQUE ISLE — Whether it be on toast as a jam or jelly, in a pie, topping a bowl of cereal or a flavor of ice cream, people love their strawberries and the staff at the SAD 1 Educational Farm are doing their best to keep up with the demand.
“We’re on track to pick between 16,000-20,000 quarts off five acres of land,” said Aaron Buzza, farm manager. “We have once picked more than 20,000 quarts in the farm’s history. A typical year we’ll see 12,000-15,000 quarts, so this should be a higher than normal year.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
PICKING STRAWBERRIES at the SAD 1 Educational Farm at the top of State Street Hill are, from left: Madeline Winslow, 2, and Elizabeth Winslow, 4, both of Mapleton; and Avery Griffin, 3, and Payton Griffin, 1, both of Presque Isle. Officials say this year’s crop is “above average.” The school farm grows the Annapolis and Honeoye varieties.
“As of July 13, we picked 11,000 quarts,” he said of the Annapolis and Honeoye varieties. “Looking at the weather pattern we’re in, we’re on track to potentially have a new pick record.”
Buzza attributes much of the “above average” crop to the weather.
“We’ve received a lot of rain, but the school farm has received no damaging rain,” he said. “Hail is something that a strawberry farmer would be concerned with; if we get those heavy thunderstorms and the hail comes down, it’s like taking a shotgun and shooting a strawberry … it’s going to pepper it with holes because the berry is so fragile. We’ve been fortunate with the rain.
“Another plus is that we haven’t had a lot of hot days. A 75-degree day is perfect for strawberries, but when the temperature goes back to 40-45 at night, it cools the core temperature of the strawberry down and keeps the juice content where it needs to be,” said Buzza. “If you take a strawberry on a 90-degree day, you can just touch it and it’s mush from the get-go. In a perfect world, we’d want to pick a strawberry from the field and immediately cool it to get the core temperature down to keep it from ripening so much. All in all, we’ve been very blessed this year.”
There are currently about 85 teenagers working on the school farm.
“We have pickers, sorters and cutters. There are some kids here who are too young to get a job anywhere else and that’s their sole job — to pick strawberries,” Buzza said. “The kids have ‘picker tickets’ just like the potato farmers used to use. The tickets help us determine which kids need to be reminded about not picking a white-tip berry, for example, or a bunch of mush berries. Maybe they’re jamming too many in the box and are causing damage. We keep track of that with the picker tickets.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
WALKER AND GINNY COLE, of North Berwick, pick fresh strawberries at the SAD 1 Educational Farm in Presque Isle before heading to their camp at Scopan Lake. In addition to selling the strawberries by the quart, the school farm also uses the berries in pies and ice cream.
“On the flip side, we may see that a certain kid is picking awesome berries and is doing a great job,” he said, “and we can track that with the picker tickets. The sorters pick out the berries that are mushy, overripe or have a white tip and those defects are cut out. The remaining good part is used in a variety of ways. The easiest way is to cut it, freeze it and sell it — no sugar added — as a frozen berry.”
Other popular value-added products include pies and ice cream.
“We make strawberry and strawberry-rhubarb pies,” Buzza said. “The kids do everything here themselves; they cut the strawberries and rhubarb, they make their own crust — it’s completely student done. The pies are fresh frozen; we don’t cook it, we don’t heat it. It’s made fresh and then it’s frozen.
“We’ve also got a great partnership with Houlton Farms Dairy. We’ll take our cut strawberries to them and they’ll make our ice cream. It’s got both the Houlton Farms Dairy local label, and it also lets people know that the berries come from our farm. It’s a big hit.”
Buzza estimates between 500-600 pies are sold each year, while 300-350 quarts of ice cream are purchased annually.
Berry picking began this year July 2, and officials estimate the season will be wrapped up — depending on the weather — July 22.
“We’ll probably pick for a good three-and-a-half weeks,” said Buzza, noting that strawberries have been part of the school farm since 1994. “People love our berries. By mid-June, people start calling us asking when the strawberries will be ready. I have a guy from California who comes up every July to a family reunion and he always comes in here and buys our local strawberries. He says they’re different than what he finds back home.”
As a way of thanking supporters who live in the five communities comprising SAD 1 (Presque Isle, Mapleton, Castle Hill, Chapman and Westfield), residents are invited to pick their own strawberries now through the end of the season. Cost is $3.50 per quart (picked) or $2 per quart (U-pick). Containers will be provided. U-Pick hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.-noon Saturday. The school farm is located at the top of State Street Hill. Cash, checks, credit cards and — for the first time — EBT cards are accepted.
For more information or product availability, call 764-7725.
