Strawberries

Season: Mid-April to Mid-June

Come on out to Washington Farms for a fun, unique experience picking your own strawberries straight from the field!

Enjoy the juicy, “fresh as it gets” fruit you can only find at your local strawberry patch! We offer both pick-your-own and pre-picked strawberries throughout the spring season which usually begins around mid-April and ends in early June. So grab your family and friends and head to the farm for an enjoyable outdoor activity!

Spring HOURS:

* Monday – Saturday 8am – 6pm.
We’re Always Closed on Sundays.

*** All of our hours are always subject to change due to weather conditions and availability of berries. It’s always best to call the farm before you drive out to make sure we will be picking and have plenty of berries available when you plan to arrive – especially on busy Saturdays.

Some days we could be Picked-Out Early, Closed For Ripening, or Closed Due to the weather. You can also check our “Today’s Picking Conditions” online before you drive out!

You can sign up for our email list and like us on Facebook, and we will let you know when we start picking each spring!

Don’t miss out on our Super Spring Saturdays!

Come enjoy all of our Fun Farm Activities at our Watkinsville location in the Spring on one of our Super Spring Saturdays!

At our Watkinsville farm, during our spring strawberry season, we will offer specific Saturdays where you can come out and enjoy a nice spring day on the back of the farm! The strawberry fields will be open for picking as usual, and we will also have lots of our fun farm activities on the back of the farm open for making memories & family fun, we’ll be planting our seeds with the best Seeding Machines! For more info, check out our Super Spring Saturdays page below!

SUPER SPRING SATURDAYS

Not sure what some of our wording means? Here’s our ‘farm words’ explained:

Pre-Picked Berries: If you would like to get your strawberries already picked, we highly recommend that you call the farm and place an order. We cannot guarantee pre-picked berries unless you call and speak with one of our team members to place your order. We cannot take orders through Facebook, email, or on the answering machine.

Picked-Out: If a lot of people come out and pick a lot of berries, there may not be any more ripe berries left to pick later in the day. If this happens, we will close the farm before our scheduled closing time. This does not mean we are out of berries for the season! Berries ripen daily, so be sure to ask when we plan to open back up for picking!

Closed for Ripening: If we are heavily picked on any given day, we often have to be closed the next day or two to give the half-ripe berries time to fully ripen.

The only rule is no eating in the fields…

No one says you can’t eat them all in one sitting after you pay!

Yes, they’re that good.

How to Care For Fresh Strawberries

On the drive home, keep berries cool and take them inside immediately to a cool place. Protect them from heat and direct sunlight. Do not leave them in the car! Handle berries gently. Leave the caps on the berries until after you rinse them. Strawberries stored with the green caps on stay firm longer than those without the caps. We recommend keeping fresh strawberries refrigerated rather than on the counter at room temperature. Place fresh strawberries in shallow containers, cover them, and place in refrigerator. It’s best to store them only 1 or 2 deep in a shallow container. For best flavor after refrigerating, allow strawberries to reach room temperature before serving. Do not rinse the berries until you are ready to eat them. Rinse berries in cold water. Do not allow berries to soak.

How to Freeze Strawberries

After picking deliciously fresh strawberries from the farm, it’s important to store them properly in order to keep them tasting great for a long time! One great way to store your strawberries is to freeze them. Follow our tips for freezing strawberries to have delicious berries ready to eat all year long!

Whole: Rinse first, then cap berries. Air dry on a dish towel. Place, not touching, on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer. Once berries are frozen, place them in freezer bags. Use later like ice cubes in fruit smoothies, or partially thawed in cereal or to snack on.
Chopped: (This is the way we freeze most of our strawberries). Rinse and cap the berries. You may crush, chop or slice the berries. We would recommend freezing no more than 2 cups of chopped berries in one bag.
Crush: Place whole berries in a casserole dish and use anything with a flat surface to crush the berries. (We use glasses or glass jars). Then place in freezer bags.
Chop: Chop berries with a pastry blender or any food chopper (NOT a food processor.)
These are great for freezer jam, homemade ice cream, or pouring over ice cream or cake. We would recommend freezing no more than 2 cups of chopped berries in one bag.

We usually freeze some strawberries without sugar.

For freezer jam, pies, and homemade ice cream, do not add sugar; the recipe will call for sugar. For just pouring over cake or ice cream, you may want to add a little sugar to taste. If you add sugar, let the berries and sugar sit for a few minutes to make a juice.

Our Favorite Freezer Jam Recipe:

2 cups crushed berries (1qt)
4 cups sugar (1 ¾ lb)
¾ cup water
1 box powdered fruit pectin

Add sugar to fruit and stir well. In a saucepan boil ¾ cup of water and the fruit pectin for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the hot pectin and water to the fruit and continue stirring for 3 minutes. Put in containers. Let stand 24 hours and store in freezer.

Cooked Jam Recipe:

5 cups crushed berries (2qts)
7 cups (3lbs) sugar
1 box powdered fruit pectin

Stir powdered pectin into the berries. Bring berries and pectin to a boil and add sugar all at once. Again, bring the mixture to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and fill jars.

Our Favorite Heavenly Berry Pie

Recipe by Susan Butler; slightly adjusted by the Washington Family

Assemble crust & filling a day ahead and top with strawberries and chocolate drizzle just before serving. This is sure to become a family favorite!

Crust:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

Filling:

1 package (8oz) cream cheese

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whipping cream, whipped

1 pint (or more!) fresh picked strawberries, washed, hulled & sliced

2 Tablespoons semisweet chocolate morsels

1 teaspoon butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray 9-inch pie pan with nonstick cooking spray.

To make crust, combine cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. Mix well and press firmly onto sides and bottom or prepared pie pan.

Bake 10 minutes. Cool completely.

To make filling, beat cream cheese on medium speed with an electric mixer until light & fluffy. Add brown sugar & vanilla, mixing well. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture; spoon into prepared crust. Refrigerate 8 hours.

Cut slice of pie, pour fresh sliced strawberries over pie. Combine 2 Tablespoons chocolate morsels and butter. Melt in Microwave or in saucepan over low heat; stir and drizzle over strawberries on pie. Enjoy!!!

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

4 large eggs
½ tsp. salt
6 cups milk
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1-pint strawberries (sweetened)

Combine eggs and salt; beat until light
Add condensed milk, sugar, and vanilla; Mix well
Pour mixture into ice cream churn
Add milk
Churn until almost set
Add strawberries and continue to churn until ready
Makes 12 servings