U-Pick harvest
(Continued from Page Cl 4)
acreage in this highly
popular U-pick crop. The
new “patch” will begin
producing next spring.
They’ve also added a peach
orchard and blueberry
bushes. These will both bear
lightly this summer.
Memorial Day was a busy
day for strawberry sales.
Altogether this Memorial
Day they sold about 1100
quarts, says Donna.
Customers paid 45 cents a
quart for the berries, which
have been selling for bet
ween $1 and $ 1.95 in the
stores.
University of Delaware
extension vegetable
specialist Mike Orzolek, who
helps farmers like Bill
O’Day solve production
problems, estimates that
you can get about 5,000
quarts an acre from a
planting of strawberries
over the three-week period
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plants are bearing. By
growing several varieties
that mature at different
tunes, O’Day can extend the
harvest another week or so
provided a spell of hot
weather doesn’t speed
ripening of fruit on all
plants.
Strawberry plants are
good for about three seasons
before disease and weed
problems render them un
productive. Then you must
relocate the bed and replant
using healthy new stock.
O’Day figures he’s spent
about $2,000 so far, not
counting labor, just to set out
his new six and a halt aut,
patch. So the crop’s not all
profit by any means. It took
a lot of time to remove
blooms, too, so that the
young plants wouldn’t set
fruit their first season.
Because supply and
variety of crops available
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Non stop loading • Before youget the bales to be loaded push one
control and the machine will swing out and trail beside the pickup • Push the second
switch and the front of the machine lowers to the ground • Push the third switch at
the same time as you engage the bale and approximately 12 second later the bale is
loaded • After the third bale is loaded swing the machine in behind the pickup and
you are ready to go to the storage area whether it be 100 yards or 100 miles All this
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can change overnight,
Donna O’Day strongly urges
all prospective pickers to
call before making the trip
out to the farm. The drive
from Seaford or Laurel isn’t
much, but some of their
clients come from as far
away as Ocean View or
Salisbury. A few weeks ago a
man drove over from
Baltimore with his 80-year
old mother. Between them
they picked 25 quarts of
strawberries.
Donna, who handles the
customer contacts and sales,
says quite a few other semor
citizens come to pick, too.
But there’s no “typical” age
group or customer. Last
spring, somebody rode out
from town on a bicycle and
picked berries into a brown
paper bag. People have even
picked into flower pots and a
diaper bag. The other day
they got their first Moped
customer.
The new peach orchard
should start producing
lightly this year, but Bill and
Donna haven’t decided yet
whether this will be a U-pick
or pre-picked crop. At any
rate, once the trees start to
bear, there’ll be four
varieties to choose from a
white, Belle Georgia, and
three yellow types, Lormg,
Redskin and Red Haven.
Altogether this summer,
they have 25 acres in fruits
and vegetables, plus an
additional 40 in sweet com.
This crop is sold either U
pick or pulled, depending on
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demand. In the past, some
operators of roadside stands
have come to pick large
quantities of com for resale
to their own customers.
Though they’re out in the
country, they feel they’re in
an ideal location for
business, close as they are to
towns like Seaford, Laurel
and Federalsburg. They’re
open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Monday through Saturday
On Saturdays they open at 1
and close at 5, so the family
has a chance to go to church
in the morning and relax a
bit in the evening.
O’Day has two full-time
employees who help him
with his corn and soybeans.
He also hires a couple of
workers to hoe weeds in the
U-pick crops during the
growing season. But
otherwise they do much of
the work themselves. Their
two children, Billy (9) and
Becky (7), help out where
they can—showing
customers where to pick,
and doing some of the
weeding. Bill’s mother, Mrs.
Mildred O’Day, also lends a
welcome hand. So it’s very
much a family business.
The O’Days keep things
fairly simple for themselves
and their clients. You’re
expected to provide your
own containers—which
accounts for some of the
unconventional items used
on occasion to gather
strawberries. They show you
how to pick, and how to tell
when a fruit or vegetable is
t
mature. Otherwise, they
pretty much leave people to
themselves Contrary to
some pick-your-own
operators, they don’t tell you
which section of the field you
can pick m. Their sign does
say no pets or children under
12 are permitted m the
fields. But if someone brmgs
young children, they can
wait near the sales stand
while their parents pick. On
the whole, the system seems
to work very well.
The only problem, admits
Donna, is that they’re tied
rather closely to the farm
during the growing season.
But this doesn’t seem to
LITITZ - USDA will soon
know a good deal more about
the role of women on the
nation’s farms and their
experiences with farm
services and programs.
About 4,100 farm women
will be contacted in a
nationwide survey this
summer as part of an
inquiry into the status of
women in relation to USDA
programs, program
management procedures,
and job opportunities.
The survey will be con
ducted for USDA by the
National Research Center of
Chicago, a nonprofit social
research institute.
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P.O. Box 219,539 Falling Springs Rd.
Chambersburg, PA 17201
Phone; 717-263-9111
1
RYDER SUPPLY CO.
P O 80x219,539 Falling Springs Rd
Chambersburg. Pa 17201 PH 717-263-9111
NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE
SEND INFO. ON
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 21,1980—C1S
USDA seeks farm
women suggestions
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CAPACITIES
TO 85 TON
or 2700 BUSHELS
6', V/z\ 9', 12'
DIAMETERS
This 19 to 85-ton bulk tank is de
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PRODUCTS OF:
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■—
bother her much. There’s
even a certain notoriety
attached to the business.
When she goes shopping in
Seaford these days, people
are likely to stop her in the
supermarket to exclaim,
“Oh, you’re the U-pick
lady!”
Bill O’Day used to grow a
lot of vegetables on contract
from some of the processors
on the peninsula. But then he
decided he’d rather grow his
own for fresh market sale.
U-piek seemed a logical
alternative, from a labor
standpoint. And so far he
hasn’t been disappointed.
Information from the
survey will provide USDA’s
recently established Farm
Women’s Project with a
record of farm women’s
experiences with USDA
services and their per
ceptions of the Department.
The Farm Women’s
Project will also report on
farm women’s legal rights to
USDA program benefits and
funds.
Farm women with
suggestions on the survey
can write to Carol Forbes,
Farm Women’s Project,
Room 1548 South Bldg.,
USDA, Washington, D.C.
20250, or phone 202/447-2582.
LF 6/21