Today, we traveled to Patterson Fruit Farm. This was our 5th and final farm for strawberry picking this season. The season was too short to try all of the farms on our list, but hopefully we’ll be trying other farms for different crops throughout the summer. The season is winding down for all of the farms and we are taking next week off while we wait for the start of blueberries, sour cherries and raspberries. July will be BUSY! From our house in Mayfield Heights, the Mulberry Road location for Patterson Fruit Farm is about 20 minutes away. We saved the closest one for last. Patterson Fruit Farm also operates a market on Caves Road.
We met some friends at the farm. They live in South Euclid and if they call when they are leaving, and then we pack up and leave, we get to the farms east about the same time. Once again today, we parked right next to each other. That was awesome timing.
The U-Pick operation at Patterson’s is one of the bigger one for strawberries. I think it’s because they are very popular for apples and they are close to the city population compared to other farms. There is a whole staff of people working the U-Pick fields. The picking started at 8 AM, and we arrived about 8:30 AM. You stop at a little gate house building as you enter and someone gives you your baskets and a white information card. Then, you follow the arrows to the current picking field. It was not crowded and we parked very close to picking.
Here’s Sally and Nick enjoying the field, and the little field house where your strawberries are weighed when you complete your picking.
The weights of your berries for each container are recorded on your information card and you take it to the gate house near the entrance/exit to pay. Also, there was a pot-a-jon available near the field.
Here’s a view of the fields. They have at least 4 picking fields here. We ended up with 4.25 pounds of berries for $8.25. They are $1.60-$1.95 per pound depending on how many pounds you pick. The lowest price is for 25 pounds or more.
We left our house at 8:15 AM and we were home by 10 AM. That included a detour through the North Chagrin Reservation since Wilson Mills was blocked off with a police car on our way home.
Patterson Fruit Farm has a website and a couple of Facebook pages. They have U-PIck strawberries, apples and a minimal peach operation, so we’ll probably visit them again later in the year.
Strawberry Picking is located at 8765 Mulberry Road Chesterland, Ohio 44026. Their Farm Market is at 11414 Caves Road, Chesterland, Ohio 44026.