By Carolyn Twesten, Weaver Street Market Produce Merchandiser
Our local strawberries have started to arrive from several different farms in eastern North Carolina. You might be eating berries from any of these member farms of Eastern Carolina Organics: Cottle Organics or Uncle Henry’s Organics in Rose Hill, NC; M&M Farms in Elon, NC; or Vollmer Farm in Bunn, NC. The season has been slow to start due to the unseasonably cold weather we had back in March but is underway now and will hopefully last through mid-to-late May.
Some of our staff were able to visit both Cottle Organics and Uncle Henry’s Organics on a field trip last week. We learned about both the challenges and the huge benefits (for workers AND consumers) of raising organic strawberries.
The biggest challenge for an organic strawberry grower is the amount of labor it takes to get a crop. Rather than using chemical means to control insects, weeds, and diseases, many organic controls require hand labor. Whether that means weed-eating between the rows of berries or hand-picking soft berries after a hard rain to control fungal growth, there can be twice as many labor hours in an organic berry crop than in a conventional one. As a result, organic strawberries can be harder to come by, especially in the humid Southeast where disease control is more of a challenge than in the arid West. We do our best to find growers who are committed to organic practices to bring you the healthiest fruit!
Look for organic strawberries in the fresh produce case.
Meanwhile, our pastry bakers are transforming berries into a number of delicious pastries—strawberry rhubarb pie, strawberry cream cake, strawberry coffeecake, and more!—although their berries may not be local or organic at times, due to supply. Our kitchen is celebrating strawberry season with a strawberry rosemary vinaigrette dressing on the salad bar and for sale in bottles, and an almond arugula salad with strawberry vinaigrette in the Grab N Go case; they’re also using local berries when available.