Wedding Bells in the Strawberry Patch: Lucy Said YES!

Four daughters!!!  Fred and I have had our hands full and the girls have always kept us on our toes.  This year we had an amazing surprise.  Lucy, our third daughter, was visiting home with her boyfriend of 5+ years, Nick Meier.  They were both hopping to find the first red berry of the season, but on Friday night they found no such thing.  Before they left on Sunday, Nick wanted to check the patch one last time.  A nice stroll through the farm, Nick and Luck finally made it to the patch.  Grazing the rows, they were having no luck.  Nick nervously said to Lucy, “I wish there were more strawberries for this.”  When Lucy turned around, Nick went down on one knee.  Lucy said yes!

Dad was in the berry truck watching from afar and mom was over the hill planting some vegetables.  It was the perfect setting for our Lucy.  Shortly after Nick popped the big question, they stumbled across two ripe strawberries.  Nick and Lucy shared the first red strawberries of the season over a glass of Champaign and one of mom’s delicious home cooked meals.

We planted our first strawberries in 1987 to make some extra money to bring the girls on a family vacation.  Low and behold, where do a bunch of little girls want to go but to Cinderella’s castle in the magical place of Disney World?  Who would have thought the strawberry patch would be the source of another fairytale for one of our daughters.  We are very excited to invite Nick into our crazy life!  He just signed up for many years of helping on the farm. Where magic can happen…. Just ask Lucy!

There is a place where nothing is ever as it seems
Where the ordinary is always extraordinary
And where once upon a time, happens once upon a day
Come live you're dream this year during the year of a million dreams at Disney Parks

Malvitz Bay Farms
The place where Dreams come true

When is Door County Strawberry Season?

Everyone is patiently awaiting the first red strawberry. Here at Malvitz Bay Farms, every family member is constantly scouring the fields for the first red strawberry of the season.  No winner yet, but dad is convinced we’ll find them any day now.  We are officially looking at a start date of the strawberry season to be around the 20^th of June.  Both pick your own and ready pick will be available again this year.  The season is a bit late due to the chilly weather we had this spring. The warmer the weather and the more sun, the faster the berries ripen.   You can expect to have a great strawberry dessert this 4^th of July!

There is much to do on the farm to prepare for the strawberries.  Quart containers are being delivered and all of the berry carriers are being pulled from the rafters.  Each row has to be labeled…. This takes some time since there is 12 miles of strawberry rows.  The last few weeds are being pulled and the patch is beginning to look picture perfect.  Though we have had a good amount of rain this year, we irrigated the berries few times to keep the ground moist and give the plants all the water they need to make big juicy berries!  

Strawberries are right around the corner and our hoop house is full of green and ripening vegetables.  We currently have fresh lettuce and flowers.  The vegetables are growing fast and we should have peas in a few weeks.  You can always call for availability at 920-824-5625. Something is always growing on the farm!

Strawberries in the Snow?

It is snowing and we are expecting over seven inches today!  What do I have on my mind? Planting Strawberries.  Before we know it, the snow will be thawed and spring will be bringing us sunshine and flowers.  I know it is hard to imagine while shoveling your car out but trust me  It is right around the corner. 

Unlike our pumpkins or sweet corn our strawberries are planted as a plant  not a seed.  We order our strawberry plants from Nourse Farms in Massachusetts.    We put the order in December!!!  While many you are making their holiday shopping list, we are preparing our strawberry plant list!  The plants are delivered to our strawberry farm in Sturgeon Bay in April.  They come frozen!  Here in Wisconsin frozen is normal!  A frozen plant is in dormancy.  We keep the plants frozen until we are ready to plant.  Looking out the window, it doesn't look like anytime soon.  When the ground is thawed, we pull the plants from the freezer and get working. 

The plants are planted about a foot apart.  Throughout the year  smaller plants will grow off called runners. In fall when the wind turns cold, we cover the all of our strawberry plants with straw.  Eventually they freeze, go into dormancy and await the spring as we do.  A year after first planting, we start to have big juicy strawberries to share with community!  Nothing beats a Door County Strawberry from the family farm!