Local U-Pick Businesses Doing Well

The days of sore backs, dirty hands and filthy clothes from crawling along the ground to pick your own vegetables and berries are practically a thing of the past as far as local u-pick farms go.

McCracken Farms and Henscratch Farms have gone vertical, using tower-like hydroponic systems and the u-picks' popularity is on the rise.

McCracken Farms

It only takes a short stretch on State Road 17 between Avon Park and Sebring to get to McCracken Farms.

A hop onto Powerline Road quickly leads to Harnage Road, where a turn at the u-pick sign, as if by magic, transports you to a quiet place with orange groves and a small cluster of McCracken family homes.

John and Lois McCracken, and their son Mike, with about 15 years in business, are usually there to greet visitors as they arrive.

John McCracken said he met Lois at South Dakota State University, got married and later moved to Florida in 1982 from Minnesota.

He grew up on a family farm in Iowa but moved to South Dakota when he was about 15 to live with his grandfather. The cold winters can wear on people.

"We decided it would be nice to move to a warmer climate," John McCracken said. "We moved to Highlands County and took jobs. I was a school teacher and Lois was a registered nurse."

Later they decided to do their own thing. They raised pets for pet stores and in the 1990s took up farming. They planted a couple of acres in citrus but the business soon blossomed.

They mostly use the Verti-Gro and Hydro-Stacker hydroponic systems, John McCracken said Thursday.

The McCracken family's hydroponic pick-it-yourself operation is popular with locals and visitors alike and it's easy to see why.

It is somewhat unique, it's clean, it's fun, it's educational, it's fairly easy, there are many varieties of produce available, plus the crops are accessible. Best of all the prices are comparatively low.

A Unique Farming System

Mike McCracken is a confident, knowledgeable guy who smiles a lot and speaks passionately about the family business.

"A lot of our customers are old-time farmers," said Mike McCracken. "They say, wow, you got a lot more plants per acre and you don't have to get down on your knees."

For many of their senior customers, this is a great way to get out, get exercise and reminisce with family and friends about their own farming experiences or home gardens when they were growing up, he said.

Hydroponic farming is efficient, he said. They get more fruit per plant. It is environmentally conservative and the fertilizers are contained, he said.

While they do have acres of citrus groves, the majority of the plants are planted in hydroponic rows of vertical Styrofoam containers, using a drip system.

An injector pump with a timer is set to pump specific amounts of water at specific intervals which is changed for each type of crop, he said. Each crop uses its own specialized soil mixture.

For example, it runs for three minutes sending a quart of water onto a stack of strawberry containers. It takes about 15 minutes for the water to drip through to the bottom rows, said McCracken.

You might say that their business is largely word-of-mouth, said McCracken.

"We're dealing mostly with everybody's best friend," he said.

It's Clean

Each row in the hydroponic garden has a black-colored fabric covering the ground, so the u-pickers aren't standing in sand or dirt getting their shoes dirty. There wasn't a creepy-crawly thing in sight.

Pat and Bill Geller from Avon Park said they discovered McCracken's about a month ago at the suggestion of a friend.

"A friend of ours said this is where you want to go," said Bill Geller.

"It's just like being in a candy store; a healthy one," said Pat Geller, peering out from underneath her sun visor.

She put together a small bag for a salad from the McCrackens' 20 or so varieties of lettuce. She carefully tore at lettuce leaves, green, red, greenish-yellow, from each plant and then moved on to the next one. A ladder made higher-up containers accessible.

"Their tomatoes, they have a flavor," she said reaching upward to pick. "When you go into the supermarket you don't know where they're from."

She said she was surprised at how many people she had spoken to who didn't know about the place. They do now.

"It's out in the fresh air," she said using her free hand, cupped to move some air toward her face. "And it's fresh. I've had my parsley in the fridge for three weeks and it's still good."

The plants appeared to have few bugs.

"They're more prone when they're on the ground," said Bill Geller.

It's Pretty Easy

As Fran McGregor, of Canada, was about to climb into her van to leave she said it wasn't her first time there.

"I've bought things here; this is the first time picking myself," she said.

Armed with a pair of scissors, she said it took her about 10 minutes to pick a quart of strawberries.

"Because I was choosey," she said.

"It's beautiful; it's aesthetically pleasing," she said. "You don't have to bend down and they're easy to see. It's fresher and economically it's cheaper. But I don't think economics have anything to do with wanting fresh strawberries, adding that they let her taste the berries.

"I had one at the beginning and one at the end," she said.

Gary Duncan and his wife Sally, from Sebring, arrived with three empty buckets.

"Today we're buying oranges, and last time we bought a variety of things," he said. "We got the information from a neighbor of ours. Now, when we have people come visit us we come here and they're amazed. You don't see a set-up like this in Ohio, where a lot of our visitors come from."

U-Picking Is Fun

Patsy and Sherman West, of Lorida, were originally from Georgia and Arkansas respectively. They came for a trip to the farm with Donald and Dot Combs, visiting from Ludowici, Ga. Donald Combs is Patsy's brother.

They've been coming to the u-pick since about 2001, they guessed.

"We come here for the fun of picking and sampling; and the taste," said Donald West, who grinned like a kid with a secret as he climbed into their minivan.

"I usually come here with another girlfriend and we pick strawberries all the time," said Patsy West.

"It's the freshness of the fruit picked right out of the orchard," said Donald Combs.

They will take some fruit back to Georgia, he said. Combs, a large individual, laughed saying he also liked not having to bend, as he glanced down at his stomach.

It's Educational

"It's the diversity of the people," said John McCracken. "We've had people from 32 states and because of the diversity we've had to get different varieties. Our customers, many are retired families looking for economical things that are unique."

They like to pick items - get a bag of leaves - bring it up front and weigh it.

They have an advantage over the supermarket.

"Take turnips," he said. "They sit in the store for days. Ours are in the ground, growing. We can hold our produce much longer."

John teaches classes on hydroponics and sets that up when they are needed, said Lois McCracken. It's a chance for the school teacher inside of him to come out.

How many acres do they have?

"I've got plenty," McCracken answered with a sly grin.

"We've got 25,000 to 30,000 strawberry plants," he said, getting on with his personal tour of the hydroponics. "We have a strawberry maze with one way in and one way out. Our customers keep their little grandchildren occupied while they pick berries."

It's a great bonding experience for them, he said.

Mike McCracken was available Wednesday to take folks on a free golf-cart tour of the property if they liked, to the back 20, as he put it.

Along the way he discussed the farm, some of their unique citrus, like the pummelo (an Asian grapefruit). The cart zipped past their blueberry containers and he stopped to point out a large natural honeybee hive, about the size of a medium duffle bag, and home to about 40,000 honeybees, he estimated.

"They're not Africanized," he assured the tour. "We checked."

Never the less, it was comforting to leave the bees behind and get underway again.

Lost To The Frost

The entire operation is outdoors. No green house yet.

"We lost our entire tomato crop to frost this year," John McCracken said, as his rough farmer's hands gently cradled a new green tomato plant growing from its Styrofoam dish.

That happened at the first frost. They immediately planted a new crop, he said, which they covered with little Styrofoam cups when the next frost hit, so they survived.

"The new plants should be ready to pick in six weeks - middle of April - beginning of May," he said. "We'll run a couple thousand tomato plants through the summer."

Henscratch Farms

To the South out on Henscratch Road is another unique u-pick experience. You can't miss the signs from State Road 66.

"The property boasts 10 acres of native southern muscadine and scuppernong grape varieties, a hydroponics growing system for strawberry production, and a high-bush blueberry patch," according to www.henscratchfarms.com .

"But the true charm is the 200 American breed laying hens that range freely among the vineyard canopy that supply our country store with fresh eggs."

Executive Assistant Andrea Sweitzer said Thursday their u-pick blueberries should start in May and their strawberries are going through April. Frost led to a late start this year, she said. They grow seasonal vegetables, too.

They also are using the Verti-Gro hydroponic system.

"I've seen an increase in the last few weeks," she said. "It's definitely not dropped off from the last few years and the u-picks are strong as ever."

Both U-Pick locations get customers from all age brackets.

Sweitzer believes the economic times, low prices definitely play a part, but it offers an overall farm experience with loose chickens and field trips with eight educational kiosks that provide information on crops growing in that area on the farm.