Strawberry Hill USA

Denisa is a farm girl, raised on a wheat farm in the panhandle of Oklahoma. So she will always have a special place in her heart for the agricultural community wherever we travel. But we didn't directly eat the wheat we raised, so it didn't really feel like we were growing delicious fresh food. Here in South Carolina, the agriculture includes beautiful and tasty peaches and strawberries, and she can openly say she loves South Carolina farms!

Only the earliest variety of peaches are available now, but it is peak season for strawberries. The most usual quantity of fresh strawberries available for sale seems to be the topped-off gallon buckets. Theses mounds of berries are as pretty as a picture!

A few miles outside of Gaffney, South Carolina, is Strawberry Hill USA. It literally is a fruit farm on the top of a hill, surrounded by acres of strawberries. As far as we could see there were dark green strawberry plants, outlined by peach trees and American flags. Denisa is down there, taking pictures of the healthiest plants she has ever seen.

This area looks like it has already been picked today. But the plants are still blooming, so there will be plenty more to come.

Looking to our right we could see the team of pickers making their way down the short rows close to the fruit stand. When you see this back-breaking task, it makes one appreciate the price of those berries even more. Cooley Farms doesn't have any u-pick sections, so only these professionals are allowed in the fields.

The parking lot in front of their restaurant was full, with people standing outside to wait for an open table. The fruit stand across the road was equally busy.

Denisa decided we didn't have room to freeze more strawberries, so we opted to buy the smaller container. She got in the long line at the check-out counter, realizing she was the only person not buying at least one gallon of the berries. Those buckets were literally flying off the shelf.

No problem, they rolled another cart of the just-picked strawberries in so no one would be disappointed.

In the middle of all this lovely summer fruit, it's a little odd to include a picture that is obviously straight out of winter. This must be an "ice man," trudging through the deep snow with a shovel to clear the path.

But that picture was actually taken across the field from those summer strawberry plants. You can see our winter ice man trudging behind the tractor on the left, along the newly-laid rows of white plastic.

Knowing that we love factory tours and seeing how things are made, of course we are going to watch intently to see how vegetable fields are prepared for planting. There is a roll of white plastic on a trailer pulled by the tractor. As they start to lay a new row, our ice man is in charge of securing the end. He will fold it to the proper length, and then heap fresh dirt on it with his shovel to anchor it.

As the other two guys ride away, our ice man has to jog to catch up with them in order to secure this row at the other end, and then start another new row. Considering that it is in the 80's today and we are wearing shorts, we can't figure out why all the farm workers are wearing jackets and even hoods.

Once strawberry season is over, there will be vegetables to sell at their stand later this summer. They use those long rows of white plastic to control moisture and weeds, poking vegetable seedlings through the plastic. It makes a neat and clean garden. There are more peach trees as far as the eye can see behind the vegetable plantings.

Getting to see huge peach orchards is almost as much fun as seeing acres of strawberry plants. These branches have been tied up to support the weight of a bumper crop of peaches this year.

This variety of peaches is still green and therefore barely visible to the camera. But we are fascinated with these rolling hills filled with one of our favorite fruits.

We love agriculture and we love seeing how things are made. So visiting a fruit farm is one of the best "factory tours" ever--and the samples are especially delicious! So we are enjoying our week near Gaffney, South Carolina, during the harvest season of the fruit basket!