Slim Pickins': Mt. Airy U-Pick Farm to Cease Strawberry Operation

For 36 years, families from Davidsonville and beyond have been bringing their families to Mt. Airy U-Pick Farm to pick their own fresh, local strawberries. 

For many, picking strawberries at the Davidsonville farm has become a family tradition spanning generations, according to famers Tim and Jim Hopkins, former school teachers who have lived and worked on the farm most of their lives. 

"We have people coming in with kids saying they were here as children," Jim Hopkins said.

It's a tradition that will come to an end after spring 2014, when the Hopkins brothers will harvest their last crop of strawberries as they prepare to transition their berry farm to a livestock farm. 

Though both brothers admit to loving the strawberry farm—and strawberries themselves—farming the berries has become too labor intensive for them as they've gotten older. 

"Its a lot of work. It's time to ease up," Jim Hopkins said. 

The 500 strawberry plants have to be weeded by hand every time it rains. That, along with the drip irrigation, has become too much physical labor for the Hopkins'.

When they were growing up, the family kept dairy cows and grew tobacco on the same farm—it was larger at the time—as did many of the farms in the region, Jim Hopkins said, though that's not something you find much of anymore. 

"It's hard to believe that the two main crops of the '50s, '60s and '70s are gone, tobacco and dairy," Tim Hopkins said. 

In the spring, Tim Hopkins said the brothers will buy a few head of cattle for their back pasture. The cows will be raised and eventually slaughtered for meat. They are in the early stages of planning, and still deciding if they will sell the meat by the cow or by the piece. 

Lisa Barge, who works in the marketing and development department of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation, met with the Hopkins brothers Monday to discuss some of their options, and ways the county can help.

"The real money is in selling by the piece," Barge told the brothers. 

One way AAEDC helps niche farmers like the Hopkins brothers is by offering affordable rentals of expensive farm equipment. For livestock farmers, they offer a scale and shoot for rent. 

Starting in spring 2014, AAEDC will offer a raised bed mulch layer. This piece of equipment forms a raised bed and lays plastic mulch, which can help keep weeds to a minimum, and would work well for a strawberry patch, Barge said.

The AAEDC also offers farmers help with marketing their products, something the Hopkins brothers were interested in perusing. 

She said she thought they had a great spot for a farm stand. They could install a freezer and sell their meat, along with the eggs from the chickens they already own. The might even be able to add produce—like strawberries—should they decide not to give up the crop completely. 

For more information on AAEDC and the services they offer to farmers and other business owners, check the website here.

Do you have memories of visiting the Mt. Airy U-Pick Farm? Tell Patch in the comments.