CATAWBA, N.C. — While the worsening drought conditions are causing concern across the area, at Bumble Berry Farm, it’s led to a strong harvest that they’re now able to share with the community.
With rows of strawberries ready for picking, farmer Austin Hirsch says it’s a double-edged sword.
“On one hand, it’s producing some of the sweetest berries we’ve ever had, but on the other hand where, the challenge has been is that this historic heat has made this crop ripen just about all at once,” he told Channel 9’s Miana Massey.
What usually takes around six or seven weeks happened in just one, which means more berries than they can sell or before they go bad.
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That’s where program coordinator Maria Gandy and volunteers with the society of St. Andrew come in, picking and sorting strawberries one by one and donating them to soup kitchens and church pantries for the people who need it most.
“We just feel like it’s the right thing to do,” Hirsch said. “To pass that blessing along and pay it forward.”
According to Feeding America, 1 in 7 people in the Carolinas face hunger.
“Hunger is everywhere,” Gandy said. “Just like it is in third world countries, in the U.S. it’s a real problem as well.”
For Hirsch, it’s about much more than the harvest. It’s about sustaining local communities.
“As long as our strawberries are ending up on the table, that’s what matters to us,” he said.
The farm says they expect to donate a large portion of their extra crop to make sure it doesn’t go to waste.