Wish Farms’ Strawberry Fields are Forever
Last week, we had the opportunity to go strawberry picking in the, “Winter Strawberry Capital of the World,” Plant City, Florida! The Hyppo team hopped into 6 vehicles and caravanned 2 and a 1/2 hours southwest until we reached the charming Fancy Farms fields, a partner grower with Wish Farms. Upon stepping out of our vehicles, we were immediately mesmerized by the lengths of the fields, how luscious the crops were, and how juicy the berries looked! We aren’t biased or anything, but Florida strawberries at peak season have a certain je ne sais quoi that is incomparable to any other strawberry in the world. This season we are lucky to partner with our friends at Wish Farms to source only the best of the best for our strawberry pops! On this field trip, they took us behind-the-scenes of harvesting and taught us everything there is to know about berries.
Similar to how our founder, Stephen DiMare, sold ice pops from a single cooler in Historic Downtown St. Augustine, Wish Farm’s founder Harris Wishnatzki first began selling produce from a peddler cart in Brooklyn, New York. Soon after, the Wishnatzki family became involved in buying produce in Central Florida and made their way down south.
Over 90 years later, Wish Farms now grows both conventional and organic varieties and is a year round supplier of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Their flagship growing operation in Duette, Florida is home to the longest contiguous strawberry farm, outside of California, with 600 acres of strawberries. Though we opted for visiting a partner grower in Plant City because of distance, we were still able to get an up close look of the operations and eat, I mean… pick, all. the. berries.
Fun Fact: Did you know strawberry plants take approximately 21 days to go from bloom to berry?
We had the best day learning from the Wish Farms team and getting a chance to revel in some of Florida’s crowned jewels. The next time you find yourself enjoying one of our strawberry pops, whether it be Straight-Up Strawberry, Strawberry Basil, or Datil Strawberry, know that those fresh berries were hand planted and hand harvested locally by our partners at Wish Farms.
Check out more about Wish Farms by visiting their website or following them on Instagram: @wishfarms