Sam’s Produce U-Pick or Ready-Picked

If you are a fool, you’ll drive Highway 10 east out of St. Paul in order to get to Sam’s Produce to pick your own strawberries, peas and other yummies in a little less than 90 minutes. If you’re smart, you’ll make a day of it. Drive Wisconsin’s Great River Road 35 through some of the prettiest scenery and charming river towns. You’ll stop at the Smiling Pelican Bakeshop for THE MOST outstanding baked goods ever, check out some art in one of the Stockholm galleries, think about Christmas shopping for some interesting linens and kitchen goodies at The Palate Gourmet Kitchen Store then have lunch at the Harborview Cafe in Pepin. Only then will you amble north on N or any other variation of back roads you can find to slowly take you to Sam’s outside Arkansaw, Wisconsin. Don’t be a fool and forget a cooler with a bit of ice, because you may want to take the same route home! A smartphone is also quite necessary for mapping purposes! Of course, getting lost could be fun if you’re up for adventure! Do make sure Sam’s is open for afternoon picking, or you’ll have to reverse the order of my suggested itinerary!

I rode out to Sam’s for strawberries with a neighbor from the area, Terry Cuddy. She hails from Rush River Produce (watch the video!) and runs a FABULOUS u-pick blueberry farm. (Plan another trip for blueberries beginning the third or fourth week in July or anytime through the beginning of September.) Knowing the area well, she meandered us around farm country north of Maiden Rock, through Plum City and down a few “Sleepy Hallow” gravel roads – wow! What amazing scenery! After today’s adventure, my To Do list now reads, “Take a Drive.” I’d love to get to the point where I “know the roads.” There are lots of 450th, 670th, 220th streets and avenues along with highways called N, P and D…it’s confusing for the city slickers!

What a treat it was to not only see the scenery, but to sit in a row chock-full of perfectly red luscious berries. There is nothing better than a straight-from-the-vine freshly picked fruit. In my opinion, many commercial berries have lost that intense strawberry flavor. They seem to have a more intense sweetness, but less of that tart strawberry rush. The variety we picked at Sam’s was a smallish berry, not too sweet, but with highly concentrated flavor. In addition to being a bit less sweet than commercially grown strawberries, Sam’s berry was noticeably juicy. I suspect they were plump from all the rain we’ve experienced lately.

These incredibly juicy berries ended up in Romtopf, smoothie-ready frozen cubes, sauce with honey, and some were left whole and fresh for this weekend’s strawberry shortcake.

Sitting in a field picking berries gives you time to think about the “farm to table” concept. While picking in Sam’s Produce fields, I thought about how Dan and Tammy and their kids prepare the soil, plant the berries, mulch them in the fall, uncover them in spring, worry about rain and pests and getting the berries picked. In the city it is so easy to take food for granted, so it seems valuable to experience the field if even for a moment!

You can get updates on Sam’s Facebook Page, find info about their farm and products at Savor Wisconsin or call them personally for specifics at 715-285-5351. I’m excited to make many trips to their farm this summer – think pickles!