Jul. 4—BOWDOINHAM — Wednesday was a humid, sunny, sweat-inducing day at Fairwinds Farms.
Toddlers ran through the fields with big smiles and their parents in tow. They carried quart baskets in one hand and used the other to fill their bellies with strawberries. Parents readied their phone cameras to capture the wholesome moments.
These are the crowds farm co-owners Charlie and Audree Rackley have focused on attracting since they took over the farm full time two years ago.
Tucked away in the corners, keeping their distance from the day’s mid-sized crowd, serious, longtime pickers were there filling larger buckets, baskets and flats to stock their kitchens and gather ingredients for jams and preserves.
Those are the visitors founder Cathy Karonis, Charlie Rackley’s mother, remembers filling most of the fields. She and her husband started offering U-pick at the farm two decades ago. There have always been families, but parents were often putting their kids to work more than they were leaving them to play.
“Coming from a different generation, my way of thinking is that picking strawberries is enough of an event people can enjoy that we don’t need to entertain them,” Karonis said.
In recent years, longtime U-pick farm owners say they have seen their core customer base shift from people gathering large quantities of berries to families and tourists leaving with fewer berries in their baskets, but plenty of memories.
The younger Rackleys have leaned into that transition. They recognize visitors want an experience, and they’ve invested time and money into creating one. They know that’s the future of their business.
“You keep your finger on the pulse of what people want, because ultimately, that’s who you’re working for,” Charlie Rackley said. “Whether they want more of an experience or just a bunch of berries to pick, you have to be willing to adapt.”
But while there might now be more people in the fields, growing popularity is a double-edged sword. And some farms are finding the change isn’t worth it.
COMMUNITY IS KEY
Decades ago, farmers opened up their fields to the public because it made financial sense: They could sell high-value crops without having to pay workers to harvest them, according to David Handley, a vegetable and small fruit specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Customers were drawn in by the prospect of paying less than they would for pre-packaged food at a farm stand.
“It was mostly Depression-era children who like a bargain and were willing to spend a day in the sun,” Handley said. They’d harvest large loads of fruit for their families to eat or preserve.
Over time, these farms grew deeper roots in their communities.
“People who come and use pick-your-own operations take ownership over their food. They are more likely to support the farmer than a farm that to them is a blank space they have no connection to,” Handley said.
Penny Jordan, owner of Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, said pick-your-own is a key factor in marketing Maine’s agriculture industry.
“It gets people energized about food that’s grown in Maine and food that’s grown in their community,” she said.
That said, Jordan’s Farm announced in June that it was ending its seven-acre pick-your-own strawberry season early. The farm has been struggling to balance the “intense demand” for public strawberry picking with the supply needs for its farm stand, the business posted on social media.
The pickers, old and new, tend to be loyal customers.
At Fairwinds, Paul Rossignol has been visiting to pick strawberries for 40 years and said he gathers nearly 20 pounds over the course of the season. He’s there for the farm’s raspberry and blueberry seasons, too. Steve Hill has been picking at Fairwinds since he moved to Bowdoinham 18 years ago and said he leaves with at least six quarts each time.
CHANGING TIMES
Aaron Libby, owner of Libby & Son’s U-Pick in Limerick, said national attention in 2023 helped drive record attendance. But the farm announced last week it wouldn’t open this season, or for the foreseeable future, because the growing popularity didn’t outweigh the growing financial challenges. It was heartbreaking for both the farm and the community, Libby said.
More visitors doesn’t necessarily mean more money in the bank.
Heavy pickers are still on the fields — especially during the first week of the season when the crop is the most abundant. But the new visitors aren’t picking as many berries. They are leaving with fewer quarts — and handing over less money as a result.
“We’re starting to see some (farmers) ditch U-pick because it’s not worth it,” said Handley, from the cooperative extension. “They’re running around and putting out fires … managing more and more people, but selling the same amount of products.”
But it’s difficult to track how the number of U-pick farms has changed over time because the state does not track that information or require special licenses for such operations, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
Libby said his farm was overcome by the rising costs of farming, generally, but that the U-pick model added more expenses. The farm needed restrooms and additional laborers to man the fields and work with customers, costs that a regular farm doesn’t have.
Bill and Lois Bamford owned Maxwell’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth before they turned their fields over to Jordan’s, which has now ended its pick-your-own operation. The Bamfords said they had to add more workers as time passed — to greet people, cash out visitors and monitor the fields to make sure everything was running smoothly.
Heather Digirolamo, who was at Fairwinds on Wednesday, said she had been to U-pick farms where it was clear that the owners wanted out.
“They were so strict — they were miserable and didn’t like doing it,” Digirolamo said.
LEANING INTO THE EXPERIENCE
Libby said that in retrospect, Libby & Sons might have opened for the season had the farm charged entry fees. The Bamfords said that had they remained open this year, they would have had to raise their prices by $2 per pound.
The Rackleys have turned to different ways to attract customers and still make money. They are throwing more events, including the farm’s first “Bluesberry Festival,” on Aug. 17, featuring a blues band, a food truck and games along with blueberry picking. The farm regularly hosts ice cream trucks and pop-up coffee shops. And they are often brainstorming. The latest idea is adding a face hole cutout for photo opportunities.
They also have relatively relaxed rules. Some farms are strict with children. Digirolamo, one of the recent Fairwinds visitors, said a central Maine farm she used to go to didn’t allow children.
“There’s a fair share of kids who fill their bellies with the berries before paying,” Audree Rackley said. “That is part of the experience, that is part of what they’re paying for.”
Profits haven’t skyrocketed with the shift toward experience-building, she said, but for now, Fairwinds is sustainable. And the couple feels confident visitors will return to fill their buckets, baskets and mouths with berries for years to come — weather permitting.
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