Lorence’s Berry Farm

Lawrence Berry Farm has been a favorite location for our annual strawberry picking. In previous years we have found them to be welcoming, family-​friendly, and very willing to please their u-​pick customers who look forward to enjoying the picking experience as well as their excellent berries — not so this year. Afterward visiting the website to determine the predicted hours AND calling to confirm that the farm was open for picking, we drove 40 minutes with our children only to be told in no uncertain terms that picking was done for the day. We arrived well within a ‘safe’ window of time according to the website. No apologies -!just a grumpy old guy telling us that it was more important to serve their commercial customers. He stated over and over again about how wonderful the berries were and even went so far as to walk into a field and pick samples for us of the ripe delicious berries we would not be allowed to pick. I understand that the berry business can sometimes be unpredictable — what we have trouble accepting is the complete lack of responsibility for the inaccurate u-​pick information offered on both their website and their phone message. An apology and a little empathy would have gone a long way. What we got was poor customer service and a total lack of respect for the u-​pick customer. If the commercial business is their niche then perhaps it’s time to get out of the u-​pick business. So sad that our outing was completely spoiled.

Great little farm to go check out if you feel like getting a little dirty and getting some strawberries. It seemed like we were maybe a little late in the season or some real pros must have been through our rows a week or two before us because we weren’t finding the huge berries. Although we are thinking if we went back in a couple weeks we might get some of the bigger ones.
But for 45 mins of picking on a perfect day and 17lbs of strawberries you can’t beat the price of $ 20.

This is one of my favorite places in Minnesota. I did not grow up liking strawberries. I think it is because I never knew how good they tasted right when you pick them. OMG. YUM.
At Lorence’s you can pick your own strawberries or purchase picked strawberries. They also have raspberries and asparagus. They show you how to do it and are super friendly as you could only expect people in Northfield to be.
When you pick your own strawberries you get to «sample» as many as you’d like while you pick. No joke. Bring a water bottle so you can wash off the ones you’d like to eat while there.
Then go home and make the best strawberry shortcake or chocolate dipped strawberries you’ve ever eaten!
Warning: they are only open in the AM and picking times depends on what is available. Call the strawberry hotline to find out more information– it isupdated daily.