U-pick, with new twist

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This article was published 02/07/2020 (2116 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STONEWALL — The unofficial first day of U-pick berry season arrived bearing a shopping list of new public health guidelines.

Around 400 customers filtered in and out of Boonstra Farms strawberry fields Thursday morning, kicking off the summertime tradition.

As usual, pickers shuffled down their designated rows, plucking ripe berries from leafy green plants. However, the path to reaching the fields was different amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

A sign telling people to not eat berries while they’re picking sits at Boonstra Farms entrance, some 25 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Customers drive to a spot where they pay are supplied with four-litre pails — folks can’t bring their own baskets this year.

Staff then direct cars to parking spots near the strawberry fields. Once parked, staff direct pickers to alternating rows to create social distance. (In the past, customers would park farther away, before taking a wagon ride to reach the fields, and it wouldn’t matter if your row was beside the next person’s.)

There are bottles of hand sanitizer taped to sticks in the field, and signs reminding clients to stay two metres apart from others.

“You know, it’s worked not bad,” said Murray Boonstra, owner of Boonstra Farms, adding while he was happy to be open to the public, he wants the business to be safe — he doesn’t want a spike in COVID-19 cases coming from it.

“That’s why we’re trying to stay on top of everything here.”

Strawberry picking season is short enough — it lasts about two weeks — and it’s unpredictable even without a pandemic, Boonstra said. “It’s hail, it’s weather, it’s rain, and it’s no rain.”

He and his staff had planned to offer the pre-pick option only, if public health guidelines didn’t allow customers on the fields this year, but there is simply too much produce to go that route alone.

“We wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said. “We need a thousand people a day, at least, to do the U-pick.”

Mayfair Farms in Portage la Prairie opened Thursday, too. This year, customers can order online or choose their strawberries to be delivered — a first for that business.

A number of Manitoba berry patches plan to open soon, including Whiteshell Strawberry Farm (Friday), Cormier’s Berry Patch (next week), and Olde Cramb Farm (Monday).

“We’re trying to make it as normal as possible,” said Heather Teichrib, one of Olde Cramb’s founders, adding it’s especially important to do so because COVID-19 has taken normalcy from many peoples’ lives.

Alex Gribanova, 40, brought her four-year-old son, Henry, to Boonstra Farms on Thursday. She said she was happy the berry patch opened — it’s something fun to do as a family.

“(There’s) not too many sorts of entertainment this year,” Gribanova said. “A lot of food, we can buy in stores. It’s just the process we enjoy.”

She said she didn’t mind the new health measures, either: “It’s not something extremely different.”

gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca