North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Spidra Webster <spidra@speakeasy.net>]

On Jul 16, 2006, at 6:06 AM, road's end farm wrote:
> You've never picked them in commercial quantities, I assume. Much of the cost is in the picking.
>
> They need to be picked every couple of days; even if the weather is so wet that the berries are already moldy and will just need to be tossed; otherwise the moldy ones may infect the others. They need to be marketed with similar frequency, since they don't store for very long. So they're actually pretty time consuming for the grower. For the home gardener, of course, picking them is part of the pleasure; so the time spent is rarely noted.
>
> -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
> Fresh-market organic produce, small scale

Interesting.  BHG's Country Gardens magazine recently had a focus on a couple who started a U-pick raspberry operation.  Given what you've told us, that makes a lot of sense.  You're "hiring" pickers, yet making money for it!


Spidra Webster
http://www.spidra.com
http://www.myspace.com/meganlynch

Berkeley, CA