Strawberries!

Hi everyone,

It’s finally time for strawberry season! Here’s all the details we have figured out so far. Some of this info you may have seen already, but I figured it was better to compile everything together.

Already Picked Berries – We will have strawberries in the market daily for the next few weeks, unless we get rained out from picking. They are $5/qt. In case you want to order ahead, we’ve got them set up for online ordering, along with a big chunk of the rest of our store, at https://rittmanorchards.com/shop . Our online shop is for pickup (every day except Mondays) and local delivery (Tuesdays and Fridays to zip codes 44230, 44270, 44645, 44281, 44216 and 44203). We are not set up to ship them. We have two spots reserved for Curbside Pickup in front of our store.

Market Capacity – As I mentioned last week, our official socially distanced store capacity is very low. When we are busy, we are limiting entry to one person per group. Please plan your visit accordingly. Exceptions will be made for young children, caregivers, etc.

U-Pick Strawberries – U-pick berries will start this Friday at 9am. We will not be doing early picking at 8am this year. Berries will be $2/lb. All check in and check out will be done up at the strawberry field this year, not at the market. The fields will be closing at 5, so we’ll be stopping entry by around 4:30. And just a reminder, we are closed on Mondays.

U-Pick Containers – There seemed to be a little confusion with how I worded the part of the newsletter about containers last time. I apologize that I wasn’t clear. We are not accepting containers brought from home this year, UNLESS they are buckets that you have purchased from us for picking in the past. We also will have brand new buckets available for purchase, just like we always do. The difference this year is that these buckets will be the only thing we allow to be used for picking. This is to minimize contact and to speed up both check-in and check-out. We know how much these buckets weigh already, so everything should go a lot faster.

Picking Appointments – As you all know, this Covid stuff has complicated a lot of things. We have to maintain spacing and social distancing out in the fields, too. We tried to figure out how to get appointments to work for us, but we just couldn’t. We will not be having picking appointments at this time. We will be monitoring customer flow, and if the picking area gets too busy at any point, we will have to stop additional people from heading up to the fields, temporarily, until some people leave.

Masks – We are requiring masks for entry into our store, AND when you’re in line for check-in and -out for picking berries. We will make some exceptions for customers with medical issues that make them unable to wear masks and for very young children. You do not have to wear masks when you’re out in the field picking, but you DO need to maintain social distancing from any other groups of pickers.

***EDITED 06/15/2020: Shaker Square Farmers’ Market – We are back at Shaker Square farmers’ market on Saturdays from 8 am-noon. We will unfortunately not be able to put pre-orders together for Shaker Square, however. We tried to do it this past weekend, and we just can’t handle it on top of everything else we’re doing. I apologize for the confusion. END OF EDIT***

Hopefully I’ve hit all the important points here. I hope to see you out here for another fun strawberry season! Thanks for following along with our farm. Stay safe!