A satisfied customer at Bohringer's Fruit Farm in Middleburgh. Photo by James McCracken; shared in the Watershed Post's Flickr group pool.
June brings many things: Weddings. Graduations. A riot of greenery. And of course, strawberries. The brief, glorious Catskills strawberry season lasts for just a few weeks in June, starting earlier at the more low-lying valley farms and running a little later up in the mountains.
This year, June has also brought rain -- lots and lots of it. Lucky for us, the rain hasn't put a damper on the local strawberry season: All the U-Pick farms listed below will be open for strawberry picking at least through the weekend of June 21-23, and some through the following week or beyond.
Strawberry season will be history within a week or two, but patches in the region are still loaded with fat, flavorful, fire-engine-red berries the likes of which you simply can't buy at the grocery store. Happy picking!
GREENE COUNTY
Story Farms
4640 Route 32, Catskill
518.678.9716
Open 8am to 5pm
SCHOHARIE COUNTY
Bohringer's Fruit Farm
3992 State Route 30, Middleburgh
518.827.5783
Open 8am to 6pm
ULSTER COUNTY
Dressel Farms
271 Route 208, New Paltz
845.255.0693
Open 8am to noon; evening picking Thursday and Friday from 6pm to 8pm
Kelder's Farm
5755 Route 209, Kerhonkson
845.626.7137
Open 10am to 6pm
Saunderskill Farms
5100 Route 209, Accord
845.626.2676
Open 7am to 6pm
DELAWARE COUNTY
The folks at Greenane Farms in Meridale say this year's unusually cold, wet spring has delayed their strawberry crop. Berries aren't in yet as of this post -- but keep checking the farm's Facebook page, they'll be ready to pick soon.
196 County Route 10, Meridale
607.746.8878
Open 10am to 6pm, Monday through Saturday
Can't get enough strawberries? On Saturday, July 6, head for Andes, where strawberry shortcake and pie-making is serious business. Every year around the Fourth of July, the Andes Presbyterian Church hosts their annual Strawberry Festival, a Delaware County tradition that dates back to farmer Carl Anderson's legendary bumper crop in 1945. Odds are a few parishoners still remember.
Have we missed a local U-pick farm? Let us know and we'll add it to the list.
Below: Evidence of a bountiful season from Dressel Farms' Facebook page on Monday, June 17. "Crazy huge berries today!" the farmers write.
