Generations of picking

Joel and his wife, Kristine, have owned and operated the farm located one mile west of Pelland Junction on the south side of Minnesota Highway 11 since 2003. The couple’s eight children — seven boys and one girl — make for plenty of hands to help tend to the thousands of plants growing on their property. Together, the Sunne’s, except Oliver, who is only 1 month old, help run the popular property many flock to during the picking season.

“It’s a fun business,” Joel said. “It’s a good way to get everyone involved.”

Starting in the business

Prior to moving to the outskirts of International Falls, the Sunne family lived in the Twin Cities. Joel’s father, Roy, ran a strawberry farm in Baudette and advised his son that it was a good business to get in to.

“We had wanted to move to the area, so we took that as an opportunity,” Joel remembered.

In 2003, the family purchased the property along Highway 11, and Joel laid the groundwork for a strawberry patch. He put his strawberry plants on raised beds, where the soil is raised above ground, to create an ideal growing community for the berries.

“It is so flat here and that holds moisture real good,” Joel explained. “It is better to have them up so they don’t get so wet and it makes for easier picking on raised rows, too.”

What started as mounds of dirt has developed into mature plants blooming with strawberries as far as the eye can see.

Running a strawberry farm

Each acre on the Sunne’s farm holds about 10,000 plants, all of which the family placed by hand.

“Luke has a lot of words for all the things we do when it comes to planting,” Joel said of his second oldest son.

But hours upon hours of planting come with rewards, especially when the crop is good. Joel rates this season, although it started wet, as a nine out of 10.

“Ideal weather is a variety of weather,” he said. “We want not too many heavy rains, sunny days, and some cloudy days. Just a good mixture.”

This year, bright red, plump strawberries can be seen leaving the farm by the bucketfuls.

On average, during the three-week season that starts at the beginning of July, about 150 people come to strawberry patch each day eager to get their hands on some fresh berries. The couple said there have been many faces they have recognized from year to year.

Jean Bolen from Fort Frances, Ont., is one of the regulars and has been picking strawberries at the Sunne’s farm for six years.

“Sometimes I come three or four times a season,” she said. “This is the first trip for my friend and he can’t believe it.”

“I have never seen such a thing,” Bolen’s friend, Alph LaRoche, said.

Bolen added, “I just love these people and I love their strawberries.”

Kristine said she sees a lot of people pick berries in the morning and then return later the same day.

A number of people who come to pick berries leave with sometimes 15-20 pails each. A family friend who was in her late 70’s picked 55 buckets in one day.

The boys also race against the clock filling buckets.

“I beat my record yesterday with three minutes and 47 seconds,” Luke said.

The family laughs that they all enjoy seeing those who come out and sample the strawberries as they pick.

“I can always tell someone is going to be sampling when they wear red,” said Joel, who almost always wears white to stay cool. “They also don’t talk much because the evidence is in their teeth, too.”

Because pesticides aren’t used on the strawberries, Joel said they can be eaten without being washed.

“It is safe to eat them right out of the field,” he explained.

Roy chimed in, “We all do it and none of us have died.”

Life with strawberries

Despite much of the family’s summer months revolving around the popular berry, Kristine admits she isn’t a fan.

“I don’t like them,” she said quietly.

But, because she is the wife and mother of a family that loves their strawberries, Kristine says she does have an extensive list of recipes that include the family grown berry.

“It is fine that I don’t like strawberries because when we cut up pie, there is just enough for everyone to have a piece. If I liked them, we’d have to cut a slice in half,” she said.

While he loves sharing his farm with the community, Joel says there are low points to the job, especially when frost is involved.

“When we get frost, I have to be up between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. to turn on the irrigation system to control it (the frost),” he explained. “Once the sprinkler is on, I have to get the flood light to make sure they’re all working. The process takes about an hour and a half.”

He also has to replace his tennis shoes about every two weeks from all the walking back and forth he does day to day.

Kristine laughed that she wasn’t quite sure she knew what she was getting into when she married Joel 22 years ago.

“He talked about coming up to help his dad, I guess I didn’t realize it would turn into this,” she said

Joel and Kristine’s niece, Lauren Sunne, was visiting from Arizona when the season opened July 1. When asked if she likes to visit her aunt and uncle’s strawberry farm, she quickly replied, “It’s my favorite time of year.”

Is another generation in the works to take the reins of the strawberry patch when Joel calls it quits? Being the two oldest, Roy and Luke agree that they have no plans on taking it over, but are happy to help their dad as long as he keeps going.

“They’re not that foolish,” Joel joked.

The Sunne U-Pick Strawberries farm is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information or pricing, call 285-3670 or search the Sunne U-Pick Strawberries on Facebook.

Kristine Sunne’s strawberry jam

4 cups mashed strawberries

2 Tbs. lemon juice

4 cups sugar

Combine strawberries and lemon juice in medium pan and cook to boil. Let the berry mixture boil for eight minutes, then add sugar. Continue boiling for five minutes or longer. Thickness will depend on how long the jam is left to boil. Remove mixture from stove and let stand overnight.