BERRY UP: Strawberry season is here in Western Wisconsin

MENOMONIE, Wis. (WEAU) -A sure sign of summer is the arrival of strawberry season in Western Wisconsin.

It’s berry good news, but the window for enjoying the fruits of area farmers’ labor is fleeting, as the strawberry season only lasts between two and three weeks.

The fields at Red Cedar Valley Farms in Menomonie have been growing strawberries for 40 years and offers both ‘U-Pick’ and ‘Pick-Your-Own’ adventures.

The veteran and veterinarian-owned farm is brimming with three varieties of strawberries and fields as far as the eye can see. Owner David Pillman joins Hello Wisconsin Wednesday morning to chat about ‘the best berry season’ he’s seen in years.

“We were going to be running really late due to cold weather and then it warmed up,” Pillman says. “Strawberries really like cold weather, and so the cool spring did really help the berries ripen and sweeten up really nicely.”

Grabbing strawberries from the grocery store is great 11 months out of the year, but for the few weeks local strawberry farms are producing fresh berries by the pale, it’s important to support your local farmers.

“Knowing where your produce comes from really does matter, you know its quality is good, you can talk to me directly as a farmer if you have any concerns about produce,” says Pillman. “Even when you buy it in the store it’s great, but coming out here you realize the work that goes into everything you buy in the store because that’s produced similarly just not in this location.”

For a list of strawberry picking farms in the Chippewa Valley, see here!

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