“I think between December and January, that’s when the berries taste the best,” according to Fancy Farms Market co-owner Kristi Grooms-Barnes. Hailing from the Winter Strawberry Capital of the nation, growing from Thanksgiving through Easter, Fancy Farms is approaching the height of its season – Valentine’s Day. What’s better than gifting your Valentine fresh chocolate covered strawberries? Each season, thousands of people travel to their acres and acres of green dotted with

Photograph by Adam Strang Bass My family grew oranges in a grove next to a little wild lake in Polk County for four generations. The grove yielded its sweet crop and stood next to the lake for over 75 years. It was home to turkey, bobcat, hogs, and deer. It shielded the lake and kept it, at least in my young mind, a wild and sacred place, and those rows of green trees covered in golden globes witnessed many good memories and moments of solitude. It was a place I loved. In 198

U-Pick season is almost here! Polk County has several U-pick blueberry farms to fulfill your inner Violet Beauregarde. A repeat winner for best U-pick farm in our annual Best of Haven readers choice awards, Whitehead’s Blueberry Farm is getting their buckets ready, hooking up their wagons, and preparing to welcome U-pickers for the season ahead. The Winter Haven-based family farm started as a plant nursery in 1979. In 2000, they became a blueberry farm and opened for U-pick.

What started as a garden on family land to grow their own food, has turned into a labor of love and a small business for Lakeland couple Luke Smith and Olivia Mines. With a focus on holistic farming and regenerative agriculture, the couple is doing their part to produce good food and be good to the environment. Both Smith’s and Mines’ families are generational to Lakeland. Happy’s Place belonged to Olivia’s grandfather, Harold “Happy” Lehman. “My grandpa bought Happy’s Place

A Revolution of Agriculture and Industry in the Sunshine State Though market competition from foreign countries and the ravaging effects of citrus greening haven’t been kind to the Florida farmer, there is hope in hemp say the founding members of the Florida Hemp Growers Alliance (FHGA). To discuss this regionally emerging industry, we met with the organization’s co-founders, Bo Snively, Darrin Potter, and Justin Donalson. We were invited to conduct the interview at the Tarpo

Growing Macadamia in Central Florida Lake Alfred macadamia farmer and owner of the Florida Macadamia Growers Cooperative, Glenn Reynolds’ first taste of farming was spicy. As a kid, he would grow hot peppers to eat. It wouldn’t be until years later, that a failing citrus grove and parrot food would lead Reynolds to set out on a nearly 15-year journey to crack the secret to growing macadamia nuts in Florida. Reynolds was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. His family moved whe