Polkadraai Strawberry Farm

A few months ago I wrote a post about fruit picking around the Western Cape.  After a few failed attempts to organise a day out we finally went strawberry picking at Polkadraai Strawberry Farm.  It was quite a long day in that we first did a trail run on Delvera Wine Estate and then headed over to Polkadraai.

My suggestion is to get there early, we arrived at about 10:30 and it was boiling out.  We were also a little concerned as it looked so busy, there were people and cars everywhere, including a luxury bus. We decided to grab a bite to eat and then head out into the strawberry fields.  The main theme seems to be healthy living with freshly squeezed juices and smoothies.  There is also a “farm stall” where you can buy a variety of goods including strawberry plants.

There’s a choice of a junior picker, harvester, the professional and the ultimate picker.  I think you should take into account how many strawberries you can eat and if you’re sharing the bucket, then make a decision on what size you’re going to go for.  We decided to get the harvester, which is the red bucket.  For the kiddies they can either get the junior picker or harvester including activities.  The activities are pony rides, “tractor” rides around the farm and face painting.

They don’t allow you to share a bucket, you need to buy your own or you won’t be allowed into the fields.  There’s a lady that explains where to start picking and what you should be looking for.  They say the redder the strawberries the sweeter they are.  The downside to this is that the redder they are the riper they are and therefore the quicker they go off.  I picked a combination of ruby red ones and red ones, this way I can eat the ruby red ones and have the red ones for later. 

One of their rules is that you should never eat the strawberries straight from the fields, they should always be washed first, but this is relevant to all fruit where you eat the skin.  I was amazed to hear and see a family of four eating the strawberries while we were in the fields.  They either didn’t read the rules or simply don’t care.  They also suggest that when you get home not to wash the strawberries straight away but to rather wash as you eat.  This way they last longer.  We learnt some interesting facts about these juicy fruit J

When you look at the size of the harvester bucket it seems like it will take forever to fill, but surprisingly I got half way through a row and my bucket was almost full.  They say it should take between 30 and 40 minutes to fill a bucket, not very long when you think about it.

This farm definitely caters for children, with swings, a play gym and pony rides.  There’s a big grassy patch for people to picnic or relax on. 

Considering how far out the farm is, it’s near Stellenbosch, and if you’re not planning on spending the whole day there I would suggest making a day of it and planning something else in the area.  We were lucky in that we had the run in the morning. 

All in all it’s a great day out in the summer sun.  Next summer I think it’s going to be time to try our luck at cherry picking.