Leesburg Patch Visits the Strawberry Patch

Heads up for strawberry lovers: the peak season for local, lush, red, ripe strawberries is now. It will last only for about another two weeks.

A thousand or more strawberry aficionados took heed over the first day of the Memorial Day weekend and descended on the Wegmeyer Farms strawberry patch a little south of Lincoln to pick their own strawberries.

“This starts the peak season for us,” said Tyler Wegmeyer, who with his wife Harriet added the strawberry patch to his pumpkin field three years ago. “It will last through June 12, possibly June 18.”

After that, berry lovers will turn to the Wegmeyers’ blackberries (thornless vines), and later in the summer, two varieties of red raspberries.

The strawberry field is about two acres, Wegmeyer said. He plants the Chandler berry, a variety suited perfectly to pick-your-own. Whatever ripens after the pickers have gone home with their buckets-full of strawberries, he and Harriet deliver to Whole Foods stores across the region. The rest go to their tent stand at Browning Equipment in downtown Purcellville, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – while the crop lasts.

The berries are ripening almost as fast as the rows are picked, now that the sun is out in full force, Wegmeyer said. “You can pick a row, and a couple of hours later, send another group down that row. They are ripening that fast.”

Harriet Wegmeyer shows each group of pickers where to start on a fresh row and gives them a red flag to plant in the ground to mark where they stopped picking. The next group can start there with a fresh, unpicked row ahead.

Many of the visitors May 28 brought a picnic to share -- a lot of strawberries never made it home -- on the lawn between the 19th century Grassymead farmhouse (which recently brought the Wegmeyers a renovation award) and the strawberry-laden hillside. Others bought locally grown grass-fed Angus burgers, fresh off the grill, from Scott Maison and Sara Brown, from nearby Oakland Green Bed and Breakfast.

Tyler and Harriet Wegmeyer both grew up on a dairy farm, he in Michigan, she in upstate New York. “I thought I could eventually have my own strawberry patch,” he said. “Fortunately, we made it a reality.”

With very little encouragement, Wegmeyer will praise the merits of strawberries: one serving (six to nine berries) offers 140 percent of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C, only 50 calories, and no fat, cholesterol or sodium, Even better, they are rich in ellagic and ferulic acids, both effective antioxidants.

Wegmeyer Farms strawberry patch is open for picking from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Memorial Day. Until the strawberries run out, it is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. – or until the patch has been picked out.

They advise calling ahead to check on the status of the crop: 540- 751-1782. The patch is at 38299 Hughesville Road, Hamilton, VA 20158. Go to www.wegmeyerfarms.com for directions and updates on the crop.

The farm also offers a Pick Your Own Club -- $20 per season for strawberries, pumpkins or raspberries; $50 for a whole season of all the farm’s crops, including blackberries. Pick Your Own members get 3 percent off all purchases at checkout, a complimentary water bottle per visit, one picking basket per season and priority picking, before the farm opens to the public. Each membership is good for a family of four.

For a complete listing of pick-your-own farms in Virginia and Maryland, go to www.PickYourOwn.org or to www.loudounfarms.org for a listing of pick-your-own farms in Loudoun County.