It's strawberry season at Krupp Farms in Rockford

For more than 100 years Krupp Farms in Rockford has been growing strawberries. The most popular way of picking and selling the fruit is letting the customers pick the berries themselves.

“Hi, there! Follow me this way,“ said the greeter in the field.

Tuesday morning Krupp Farms was busy getting people to their strawberry rows. They said, “So your group will be picking right here where the pink flag is.”

The people were not employees but customers, and for many, this is a tradition.

Kim Sherrill, a You Pick customer, said, “I think we've missed a couple of years but otherwise it is something we try to do every year. We make a lot of homemade strawberry jam.”

“A lot of repeat customers every year. ... They always come up to us. ... 'Hey, how's it going?' We'll talk, 'How was your last year been since last season?'” said Farm Manager Derek Huffman.

He says You Pick took off four years ago during COVID and he has doubled the size of the strawberry fields since then, saying, “I still could probably plant more because You Pick is just completely ... went through the roof on business. And they liked to come out and pick and the families want to go out and pick.”

Huffman is right: kids and families filled the rows while filling their containers.

Kate Nordling, a You Pick customer, says, “It's fun to get in the dirt with their hands. It's fun for the kids to see where the strawberries are actually coming from and then you go home and you make something and you're like, 'Oh, I actually picked that.'”

One of the perks of picking your own strawberries is eating them straight from the bush.

Kim Sherrill said, “We love to eat them as we go. So, it's a treat and just a fun summer activity.”

If you don’t want to pick your own, Krupps also has a farm stand where you can call ahead and reserve strawberries or just walk in and pick up a few quarts. The You Pick hours are from 7 a.m. until noon and the farm stand is open from 9–6. They are closed on Sundays.

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