Strawberries
My love for the strawberry patch began early in childhood. Picking berries was always a family tradition. Loading up into our fifteen passenger van with our family of ten and sometimes an additional cousin or friend, we would head off to the nearest U-pick patch. Everything was a contest-who would be the fasted picker, who had the biggest berries and so on. The remainder of the day was spent capping and cutting berries up for strawberry jam and of course some strawberry shortcake, a staple at the Harris home.
The fall after I graduated high school, my dad and I planted our very first strawberry crop. Our family had grown up raising dark fired tobacco, a very tedious occupation popular in western Kentucky. We quickly realized that the labor intensity for strawberries was even more demanding. We found ourselves weeding and pinching off the runners of each plant by hand in the fall, covering and uncovering with heavy canvas tarp throughout the winter months for frost protection and then weeding each plant again in February/early March. The harvest brought on its own set of challenges and despite their futile complaints, many of my siblings became strawberry farmers that year too. The reward of that first crop exceeded any and all expectations we had. Eight years later and our one acre patch has extended into four. My husband Josh and I now run the business while our two year old little boy markets them for us on social media. It remains a daily endeavor, as all of my sibling still participate in the harvest. It has been such a blessing to our little family and we can’t wait to see the future it builds for us.
-Jordan Furr
Tomatoes
Four years ago, I was studying at Murray State University when a cute little farmer needed help in her tomato tunnel and I eagerly agreed. This is where our story began and a little over a year later we were married. Our tomatoes have gained more and more popularity each season, and today they serve as one of our primary crops. They are planted directly in the soil around the first of January with the protection of a high tunnel. This enables us to have an earlier harvest beginning the first of May.
During the growing season, the plants are suckered and trellised multiple times, and a series of fertilizer and sprays applied as needed. We continue to learn new things each year that allows us to grow them more efficiently. We are excited to add a second high tunnel this coming season to meet the growing demand for a Harris Farm tomato. For Jordan and I, the strawberries are our “main” crop, however the tomatoes are my favorite to grow.
-Josh Furr
