Strawberry Blessings

I haven’t made a secret of it — the fact that I LOVE strawberries. And one of the great privileges of living in Florida is the ability to go out every year and pick the freshest of the fresh strawberries.

That, along with the fact that my husband has been unemployed for the past two months (and we have struggled to get by, even selling possessions on Craigslist to be able to buy food) fueled great ANGER for me when I read this local news story.

Strawberry farmers in Florida are facing such a sharp collapse in prices for their berries that many are deciding to simply leave huge tracts of the berries to rot in the fields.

Seriously. Bad economy. Families struggling. People hungry. And farmers are allowing thousands of strawberries just to sit and rot. Not even willing to allow others to come in and pick…except for this farm.

U-pick fields make strawberries available to public – tbo.com

Linked from the article that stirred so much ire in me, was the above article, which restored my faith in mankind.

On Saturday, Wishnatzki Farms in Plant City will open part of a 40-acre strawberry field to food banks and the public for a day of free picking. The farm will provide visitors with containers for the berries.

“The berries are big and they are plentiful, said Sheila Young, a receptionist at Wishnatzki.

The farm is doing a one-day “cleanout” to get ready for planting other produce.

Farm president Gary Wishnatzki is asking visitors for a minimum $1 donation to Redlands Christian Migrant Association, a non-profit organization that provides child care and early education for rural, low-income working families.

Kudos, Gary Wishnatzki!

It seems he accepts his losses, but cares enough about people to share, before planting the next, hopefully more profitable crop.

After reading about this generous effort last Saturday morning, I sent Rob with several of the kids (I had to stay behind to take Rey to his tee-ball game) to pick some berries.

Wow! They came back with lots and lots of berries! (Rob guesstimates about 150 lbs.) The boys spent the rest of the day washing, de-stemming, and bagging berries for the freezer. There were enough to even share with some neighbors, puree into food for Baby Dee, and have several servings of delicious strawberry shortcake. Our freezer is stocked. And I am thankful.

Although not an “easy” hydroponic farm (to which we have grown accustomed), our family of 12 will be firm supporters of Wishnatzki Farms, turning to them for any future strawberry purchases.

Our many thanks, Mr. Wishnatzki. Thanks for caring about your community.

According to the Wishnatzki blog, the farm’s event on Saturday raised nearly $6500 for the Redland’s Christian Migrant’s Association.