By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Local strawberry lovers swear by the sweet ruby red berries available every year at this time from Wolf’s Blooms and Berries.
But this year, while Wolf’s is blossoming with flowers, it has no berries fresh from the field.
“I’ve always had berries,” Sue Wolf said Sunday as she worked in the family’s greenhouse located on Ohio 105 between Bowling Green and Pemberville. “I’m the berry lady.”
The complete loss of their five-acre berry crop is the first time Wolf hasn’t been able to satisfy her customers’ early summer cravings for local strawberries. She recalled the first year of selling berries when her son was six months old.
“That was 32 years ago. It’s very sad,” she said.
The Wolf family noticed their strawberry fields suffering after the end of berry season last year. They were hoping the plants would recover.
“It was bad last fall,” but the plants continued to decline. “It was total crop failure.”
The family still does not know the culprit, but they have heard from several other berry farms in the region – Fremont, Sylvania and Holland – that are experiencing the same crop failure.
The exact reason is unknown, Wolf said. A fungus? Too wet? Too dry?
While some fields are still producing, the yields are far less than normal. Some farms are imposing limits on how many quarts can be purchased per person, and many sell out early in the day.
“We’re all struggling,” Wolf said.
As for the Wolfs, they have decided to start afresh, by planting the strawberries on different acreage, just in case the problem was in the soil. But that means the earliest customers can get berries there will be 2027.
While some shoppers are satisfied with strawberries grown in greenhouses in faraway places, and sold at big box grocery stores, some pickier berry connoisseurs prefer the smaller, more flavorful strawberries grown locally.
And when the first week or so of June rolls around, they keep watch for signs of ripe berries ready for the picking or the pickup.
Some make do with a quart or two. But to those relying on the early summer crop to whip up strawberry shortcakes, strawberry jam, and to sweeten up rhubarb pie, it can mean carting home a flat – 12 pounds – of berries.
While a Strawberry Festival was held over the weekend in Bowling Green, an inquiry at the event showed no locally grown berries were available.
Regular customers reacted to the loss of Wolf’s berries on the business’ Facebook page:
- “I’m so disappointed that you don’t have strawberries this year. Yours are always the best.”
- “Your strawberries were like no other.”
- “I’m crying about the strawberries.”
“Everybody’s upset when they come in,” Wolf said. She does her best to explain that the crop can be vulnerable. “It’s out of our control.”
As for the Wolf family, they will survive without the berry crop this year. “We’re very diversified,” Wolf said. “Like most farmers, you have to be.”
But personally, Wolf is already missing not having the fresh berries at her fingertips.
“I have berries in my freezer,” but it’s not the same, she said.
