STRAWBERRIES
Creek Bed Farmacy invites your family to our strawberry patch to pick your own fresh strawberries! Typically, starting mid-June, we are open to the public to start picking and enjoying our big juicy strawberries. Enjoy a family hayride to the strawberry field where we have 140,000 strawberry plants ready for the pickin’!
We are also happy to offer pre-picked that morning strawberries for purchase too.
Picking Updates
We are closed for the 2023 Strawberry Season. Please check back in Mid-August for updates on peach picking!
Weather Policy
Our fields will close during severe weather (heavy rain, thunder, lightning or high winds) in order to protect our customers & employees. Please check here or our Facebook page for last minute updates. We do try and notify people as fast as we are able to when we have to close suddenly due to the weather, but it's always a good idea to check the weather report for our location prior to coming out to pick. Also, we sometimes need to remain closed to allow fields to dry if we've had too much rain, even if the weather is nice.
A Typical Pick-Your-Own Strawberry Visit
Welcome
Upon arrival you will be greeted by one of our friendly Farm-Assists who will direct you where to drive up to the U-Pick fields.
Picking Strawberries
After you visit one of our handwashing stations, field runners will direct you to the row you will pick in. If your tray gets full, the field runner will give you a new tray.
Picking Sugar Snap Peas
Please visit the check-out station. One of our farm-assists will get you a quart container and direct you to the sugar snap pea field. The peas are usually ready a week after strawberry season begins.
Checkout
When you're ready to check out, you will visit the check out station on the East side of our vintage camper. Pop your trunk and our farm-assists will total up your strawberries. Level full flats are $28 (strawberries are level with the sides of the box). If you heap / mound them up, you will be charged $35. Quarts are $6. There is a $28 minimum purchase for each vehicle that visits our U-Pick Fields.
Pre-picked Strawberries
Pre-picked flats and quarts of strawberries have limited quantities available daily for purchase at the silver barn starting at 9am Monday through Saturday.
To ensure pre-picked strawberries are available, call by 8 am that day at (608) 635-8798 option 5 OR place a pre-order online, choose your pick-up time and we will have your fresh strawberries ready for when you arrive.
We also have Fresh Farmacy Donuts & will have (hopefully soon) Miller Farm's 5 lb. Bags of Shelled Peas available in our Berry Barn!
Ten Tips for Berry Picking at
Creek Bed Farmacy
1. Farms have dirt: Sometimes mud and uneven ground. Wear sturdy closed-toed shoes (straw hurts between your toes) or boots. Wear comfortable, casual clothes that you don't mind getting dirty. Also, a jacket comes in very handy on cool mornings or evenings. Don't forget your sunscreen!
2. Check the harvest: Prior to coming out, make sure when the berries are ready for picking. Also, we may have to close due to weather. We update the berry hotline, our website home page and our facebook page. Plan to arrive 30 minutes prior to the day's announced closing time in order to have time to pick.
3. No pets please: Farms are fun for the whole family, but due to food safety regulations we cannot allow your fur babies to come along. Please leave them at home.
4. Bees: We LOVE our pollinators. Without them we wouldn't have berries. You will see them around the patch, but they're too busy doing their jobs than to bother with you.
5. Sampling the berries: This fruit is our paycheck. We don't mind if you sample a berry (it's part of the joy of picking!), but please limit yourself. The field is not an all you can eat buffet.
6. Treat the plants with care: Please watch where you're walking in the fields and stay within the paths.
7. Wastefullness: Please do not intentionally drop or throw fruit.
8. Respect the farm: This is not only our place of business, it is our home and has been for the last 5 generations. Please read and follow signs that inform you about rules & boundaries. These are put in place to keep everyone safe. When in doubt, ask one of our Farm-Assists.
9. Containers: We provide them for FREE - no need to bring your own. The new food safety regulations for u-pick farms now dictates that you cannot bring your own containers because we would be required to clean and sanitize them.
10. Enjoy your berries!
Caring For Your Strawberries
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Strawberries are very perishable and need to be handled gently
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Protect the berries from direct sunlight & intense heat, especially in your vehicle.
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Store berries in lightly sealed, shallow containers in your refrigerator as soon as possible.
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Do not wash or clean your berries until you are ready to use them.
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Wash the berries in cold water. DO NOT SOAK them. They will become water-logged.
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Do not stack berries more than 3 layers high in container to prevent crushing.
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Use berries in 3 days or less. Our berries are much softer and juicier than berries from the grocery store, but that means they must be eaten faster.
