Strawberries – You Pick ‘em!

‘Tis the season for picking strawberries. Sweet, delicious, ruby red morsels of goodness. We are so lucky to live in an area that has tons of tireless farmers who open their farms to us mere mortals in search of our next sweet fix…some places will even pick them for you and send you home with cute little basket of goodies. If you follow this link to PickYourOwn.org you’ll find plenty of farms willing to share their goods. Some are organic, some are not…all are local. Remember my mantra, buy local and in season whenever humanly possible! I called around to some of the farms close to Wake Forest and learned the strawberries are ripe and ready for picking.

[media-credit id=121 align="alignright" width="224"][/media-credit]Here are some highlights…

• The Collard Patch – don’t be distracted by the name, the strawberries are ready to go at 7012 Pulleytown Road, Wake Forest – phone 919-556-5135

Directions: From Raleigh go 401 North to Rolesville. Continue 1 mile through Rolesville turn right on Pulley Town Road. Go 3/4 of a mile to Second brick home on left. See sign on the left The Collard Patch. Open: Monday to Saturday 7am to 6pm for vegetables; Sunday Strawberries only 8am to 5pm. Payment: Cash, only.

• Hunt’s Strawberries has the best crop they’ve had in 10 years. They are located at 4505 Watkins Road, Raleigh 27616 phone 919-266-1619

Directions: Located 401 north of Raleigh turn right onto Mitchell Mill go approximately 1.5 miles turn right onto Watkins Road. Farm is one mile on left. Open: Sunday noon-7 pm, Monday to Saturday 8 am to 8 pm. 

• Vollmer Farms - Organic! Full disclosure, I’m a member of their CSA and can vouch for the deliciousness of their strawberries, at least the ones I’m actually able to wrestle from the sticky grip of my kids every Tuesday! Vollmer Farms is located at 617 Hwy 98E, Bunn – phone 919-496-3076.

Directions: From highway 64E 1. Take highway 39N to highway 98E (Food Lion) 2. Take a right hand turn at Food Lion 3. Vollmer Farm is 1 mile on the left. From 401N/98E 1. Take 98E 9 miles to Bunn. 2. Turn right and stay on 98E at Bunn Exxon Station. 3. Stay on 98E 2 miles 4. Farm is on the left -Farmer John’s Market and Pick Your Own Open Now Mon – Sat: 9am to 6pm Sun: 1pm to 5pm Farmer John’s Country Café Open Now Mon – Fri: 10am to 2pm Sat: 10am to 6pm Sun:1pm to 5pm Back Forty Playground: September 20th through November 2nd Open EVERY Weekend Saturday: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm Sunday: 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. 

***if you can’t make it to the farm, they also have a strawberry stand set up in the parking lot near SuperTarget on Retail Dr – it’s located near the Wakefield 9th Grade Center off of Durham Road. Look for the tent.

• Hilltop Farms – 6612 Kennebec Road, Willow Springs – phone 919-552-5541
• Lyon Farms is located in Granville County at 1549 Northside Road, Creedmore – phone 919-528-3268

Directions: From Durham take I-85 north take Exit 186-A go 2 miles. From Raleigh take Hwy 50 north, follow signs. From Oxford take I-85 south, go left to Hwy 15 turn right, follow signs. Open Sunday 1 pm to 6 pm, Monday to Saturday 8 am to 8 pm; April 15-September 30.

• Ashley Porter Farms has plenty of strawberries ready for picking. The farm is located at 3525 NC Hwy 42, Willow Springs – phone 919-567-0504.

Directions: Located on Highway 42, south of Raleigh. From Raleigh take I-40 east, Take Exit 312 and take a right toward Fuquay-Varina. We are 6 miles down Hwy 42 on Left. Open: Saturday 8:30am to 6:00pm,  Sunday 12:00pm to 6:00pm,  Monday to Friday 9:00am to 7:00pm.

• Old Country Produce & Mulch – 8824 Poole Road, Knightdale – phone 919-217-0411

Directions: Located 6.5 miles east of I-440 off Poole Road exit 15. Open: Monday to Friday 7 am to 7 pm, Saturday 7 am to 5 pm. Crop availability: Strawberries – late April-June

• Page Farms is located at 6100 Mount Herman Road, Raleigh – phone 919-596-3227 – and has lots of ripe berries waiting for you. While speaking with the very nice lady from Page Farms, a farmer friend of hers stopped by. While he’s not quite as local as the ones listed above, I told Mark Waller I’d pass along his information. If, during your daily commute or weekend travels you find yourself around Durham/Chapel Hill.
• Waller Family Farms sounds like a great place to check out. It’s located at 5030 Kerley Road, Durham – phone 919-225-4305.

Most of these farms open early and don’t close until dark, which is typical in the life of a farmer! I’ve done the leg work for you and given you plenty places to investigate.( I apologize if I’ve left anyone off the list, please feel free to add/share any glaring omissions in the comments section) Now it’s time for you to do the picking…slather on your sunscreen, don your floppy hat, grab your basket, bend your back and happy picking! Support your local farmers and enjoy this season’s bounty.

Did we miss any? Contact Us to let us know and we will add them.

Tarheelmom

I'm a mom. I love to cook. I especially love to cook food my kids will eat! I grew up outside of Rolesville, moved away for college in 1988, UNC of course - go Tarheels! After college I had some pretty cool jobs in advertising and PR, lived in NYC, South Florida, Kentucky...married my Hubs, quit my job, and had a couple of kids, Big Guy and Baby B. We moved back to Wake Forest almost 10 years ago. Baby B was diagnosed with food allergies at 6 months old. I had to learn how to feed her safely so I had to learn how to cook, really cook. I'm still a work in progress but my family and friends have happy bellies. Growing up in a small town means sourcing locally is always important to me...organic is too.

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Posted by Tarheelmom on April 17, 2012. Filed under Business, Family, Food, Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.