By Carolyn Twesten, Produce Merchandiser
It may only be January in North Carolina, but at Vollmer Farm they’re already thinking strawberries! At Weaver Street Market we are extremely lucky to have a direct relationship with Vollmer Farm, a certified organic berry and vegetable grower in Bunn, NC. I had the chance to visit and talk with farm managers Russ and Vanessa this week, and what struck me was the amount of forethought and labor that goes into growing an organic strawberry crop.
When it comes to organic strawberries, grocery stores often don’t have a lot of options as to where they can buy from. Strawberries can be a finicky and difficult crop to raise, and we all know what our North Carolina weather can be like. Hot or cold, drought or flood—sometimes in the same week! The largest strawberry-producing states in the U.S. are California and Florida, but of course at WSM we don’t want just ANY berry, we want the best-tasting local berry we can find! Enter John Vollmer, a former conventional tobacco grower looking for an outlet to sell his new certified organic strawberry crop. With the difficulty of finding a large enough supply of organic strawberries to meet our needs, we were thrilled to make this connection. Those of you who have purchased these berries in the decade or more since Farmer John walked through our door know what delicious, high-quality strawberries he grows.
This week when I visited the farm I was surprised to hear that even in January there is work to be done in the strawberry fields. Actually, work on the spring berry crop begins the previous summer, when soil-enriching green manures are turned under to prepare for fall planting. The strawberry plants are then put into the ground in October. Normally the plants would go dormant November through March, but this year the plants started to bud during our unusually warm December. So that the plants don’t become susceptible to fungal issues in the spring, all of those buds need to be removed before the weather warms up. A conventional farmer would just spray fungicide and be done with it, but that’s the difference between an organic and a conventional crop. Whereas a conventional grower can use mechanization and fungicidal sprays, the organic farmer uses people power. With five acres in strawberries equaling about 76,000 plants, that adds up. It is certainly a labor of love.
John’s son Russ and his family, along with their seasoned staff, are carrying on the tradition of growing the best high-quality organic produce since John’s passing in 2014. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring in North Carolina and along with it, Vollmer strawberries.