By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
CHOCOWINITY — For Chocowinity farmer Shawn Harding, a change in crops has helped him thrive in an industry that struggles to survive.
He continues a family tradition that goes back several generations — but for Harding that tradition comes with a twist.
Where his ancestors once grew tobacco, Harding is now growing strawberries. And this year the land has produced a bumper crop.
“Everybody was expecting a bad year because of the rough, cold winter,” Harding said during an interview at Southside Farms. “But we’re having a good year — good yield, good quality and good flavor.”
The Harding family owns about 80 acres and rents another 500 acres, where they raise corn, wheat and soybeans. But the centerpiece of the family business is the retail market surrounded by fields where assorted fruits and vegetables are grown.
The change came about partly because of an economy that challenged tobacco farmers and partly because of a family tragedy. In 1999, Harding lost his brother, Todd, in a tractor accident.
“That set things in motion for the transition,” Harding said. “And there was the tobacco buy-out, when the government decided to get out of the tobacco business.”
Harding’s wife, Tracey, always enjoyed working outside, so after their children started school the couple decided to open a retail market and sell vegetables and flowering plants. They started with an acre and have expanded the enterprise over the years.
Each family member does his or her part to contribute to the farm’s success. The Hardings’ daughter, Mandi, and sons, Billy and Jonah, work when they’re not in school. Shawn Harding’s sister, Susie, is active in the business, and Tracey Harding’s parents, Van and Lola Dixon, are usually around to help out with everything from picking strawberries to leading field trips. Those fields trips are important, Harding said.
“We have a lot of preschools and day care centers come out,” he said. “We have a play station with a strawberry jump house and there are tours through the greenhouses and fields. And then they actually go out and pick strawberries.”
That experience will, hopefully, give the youngsters a healthy respect for farming and local produce. Harding said it’s a way to honor the farming tradition, as well.
But you don’t have to be a youngster to experience the joys of picking your own produce. About half of Southside Farms’ strawberry business falls in the “pick your own” category. Strawberries can also be purchased already picked, for those who don’t relish a trip into the fields.
Southside Farms keeps between six and 10 employees busy on any given day, including next-door-neighbor Sondra Bright. Pickers are out in the field as early as 6:30 a.m., filling buckets with fresh-picked berries.
And while strawberries are at their peak right now, Southside Farms sells everything from broccoli to zucchini. Blackberries will be ready for picking in mid to late June, and the Hardings plan to get into the blueberry business eventually. An old pack house, which harkens back to the days of tobacco farming, has been converted into a retail market.
“We’ll have yellow squash, May peas, cabbages, onions,” Harding said. “Ninety-nine percent of what we sell, we grow right here. The rest may be something like Mattamuskeet onions, which are still grown in this area. We’re committed to fresh, local produce. We feel better about it being that way.”
*Southside Farms is open Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit info@southsidefarms.com or call 252-946-2487.
Making the most of your fresh strawberries
STRAWBERRY DEVILISH CUPCAKES
1 box devil’s food cake mix; 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature; 2 c. fresh strawberries, pureed; 1 tsp. vanilla extract; 1 stick butter, room temperature; 2 c. confectioners sugar; sliced strawberries for garnish.
Make cupcakes according to cake mix instructions. Lightly grease muffin tins and fill batter almost to the rim of each muffin cup. Bake according to directions; let cool. In a mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, strawberries, sugar and vanilla extract. Process mixture until smooth. Transfer strawberry icing to a pastry bag fitted with a small tip. Push tip gently into the bottom of each cupcake and squeeze strawberry icing until cupcakes plump. Frost top of each cupcake. Garnish with a sliced strawberry.
CHOCOLATE DIPPED STRAWBERRIES
3 (1 oz.) squares of sweetened or semi-sweet chocolate; 1 tsp. vegetable oil; lots of fresh strawberries (wash, dry gently and leave on caps for handles).
Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler, melt chocolate with vegetable oil, stirring until smooth. Dip fresh strawberries half into chocolate. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
1 c. whipping cream; 1 1/2 c. sugar; 1/3 c. half ½ 2/3 c. sugar; 1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced; juice of one lemon.
Combine strawberries, 2/3 cup of sugar and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate. Pour cream into a mixing bowl. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups sugar, a little at a time, and continue whisking until completely blended. Pour in the half &half and whisk to blend. Remove berries from the refrigerator; mash and stir into cream base. Transfer the mixture to ice cream maker and freeze.
STRAWBERRY HEAVEN
3 c. fresh strawberries; 1 container Cool Whip; 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese; 1 can sweetened condensed milk; 1 lg. box vanilla instant pudding mix; 3 c. cold milk; 1 box vanilla wafers; whole strawberries for garnish.
Slice strawberries and toss with sugar to sweeten them. In a separate bowl, mix cold milk with vanilla pudding mix until thick, then add Cool Whip, cream cheese and condensed milk. Stir until well blended. Using a trifle dish, place one layer of vanilla wafers, then a layer of fresh strawberries, followed by a layer of pudding mix. Layer in this order until all ingredients are used, ending with the pudding mix. Finely crush the remaining cookies and sprinkle on top of entire dessert; garnish with whole strawberries.
For more recipes using fresh strawberries, visit www.ncstrawberry.org.