Melanie MoralesNothing beats the accomplishment of harvesting fruits and vegetables straight from the source.
Exploring a U-Pick farm is a fun activity you can enjoy with your family, friends, and even colleagues. It’s also a good way to experience the outdoors in a new light.
Want to try being a farmer for a day? Start your fruit-picking adventures by visiting the best U-Pick in and around Edmonton.
1. Creekside Home and Garden
Image Source: Creekside Home and Garden
Creekside Home and Garden’s U-Pick farm is known for its variety of berries.
The admission fee for the strawberry patch is $2 per person. Plus, there’s no admission fee for other fruit patches.
This applies to ages six years old and above.
You can bring your own bucket or opt to purchase one from the store. The baskets are worth $2 each.
It’s best to wear sunscreen and bring some bug spray because you don’t know how long you’ll stay at the farm.
For 2022, strawberries in this U-Pick farm are $4 per pound. The picking season is around the second week of July to the 4th Week of August.
For the seasonal berries, here are the harvest months you should look out for:
Of course, the quality and variety of the farm’s berries depend on the season and the weather. Nevertheless, if you want to harvest seasonal berries, make sure to call them ahead to check if they are available.
We also recommend visiting their greenhouse. You can check out a vast collection of vegetables and plants.
This will be worth the trip if you have plans to start your own sustainable garden. You can purchase pre-started vegetables like pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini.
Just note that the U-Pick farm closes 45 minutes before the store’s closing time.
2. Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm
Image Source: Prairie Garden & Adventure Farm
Prairie Garden & Adventure is a short ride north of Edmonton. It’s a popular 35-acre farm featuring various types of outdoor adventure.
Once on the farm, you must go to the designated U-Pick tour spot. The walking tours are done hourly, and you can pick the timeslot upon booking an appointment.
The admission ticket is worth $8.50 on weekdays and $13 on weekends. Moreover, the parking fee is $10 per vehicle, so carpooling with your family or friends is best to save more.
They have a U-Pick farm dedicated to strawberries. A level 4-liter pail of strawberries is worth $30, and a heaping 4-liter pail is $35.
Alternatively, a level 1.5-liter pail of strawberries costs $15, and a heaping 1.5-liter pail is $17.
Besides that, they have a 25-acre land brimming with pumpkins and summer vegetables, fruits, and flowers. For your reference, we listed the picking schedule of this U-Pick farm.
Among others, they also have family-friendly activities such as CSA garden tours, corn mazes, kid’s mazes, nature trails, garden centers, and more.
If you want to mingle with other people in the community, we suggest attending their farm festivals and campfires. You can walk through the farms and gardens to discover more about various plants and trees.
Should this not be enough, they have a picturesque setting for events of all kinds throughout the year. They have a space for family picnics, corporate retreats, romantic dates, and farm-to-fork alfresco dinners.
We recommend this farm if you’re new in town and wish to savor authentic local cuisines. Prairie Garden offers farm-fresh dishes and treats.
3. Horse Hill Berry Farm
Image Source: Horse Hill Berry Farm
Horse Hill Berry Farm started as a grain and animal farmhouse in 1920. It was then renovated and transformed into a 15-acre U-Pick Farm in 2010.
What we like most about this farm is that they don’t require appointments. You can also pick the row where you want to harvest berries.
Moreover, staff members will explain the different types of raspberries and the characteristics of each one so you can know what berries to pick.
If you don’t bring your own pail, you can purchase one at the farm. They sell them for $1 each.
On the other hand, the admission fee is $5 per person.
The raspberries are sold for $15 per kilogram. We think this is a pretty good deal considering they are fresh and spray-free.
On the other hand, pre-picked berries are sold for $40 per pail. Each pail contains approximately two kilograms of raspberries.
In addition to that, they also sell honey for $10 per 500 grams and $17 per kilogram. If you want some tasty raspberry jams, it’s only $10!
Just make sure to dress for the weather. They recommend wearing long sleeves and pants to be safe from the bugs and the sun.
They don’t use bug sprays on their berries and plants. As an alternative, they use soil fertilizers and herbicides on weeds.
However, since nothing is sprayed on the berries, they can easily get crushed if you wash them. Due to that, they advise a way to preserve them better.
You’ll need to lay the berries on a parchment-lined sheet and freeze them for around three to four hours. After that, you can munch on them, put the leftovers in a Ziploc bag and freeze them again.
If you’d like to enjoy them a bit more, you can also turn the raspberries into jams, pies, and baked goods.
Don’t worry because you don’t have to search for recipes. They got a few of them on their website.
4. Steven Strawberries
Image Source: Steven Strawberries
Steven Strawberries is a 30-minute drive away from Edmonton. It features an expansive U-pick farm with rows and rows of strawberries.
This family-owned farm is established in Monclova and offers three strawberry varieties. They also have an outhouse and parking space for the visitor’s convenience.
You can buy admission tickets on the opening days. However, we highly recommend booking an appointment online.
The tickets are usually available 12 to 24 hours before the U-Pick farms officially open.
It’s worth $5 per person, and if you take home more than 5 pounds of strawberries, you’ll get a $5 discount! If you’ll bring the little ones, the ticket for kids 1 to 10 years old is only $2.
There’s no fixed schedule for the picking time, but they open as soon as the strawberries and the venue are ready.
Note that you have to present your ticket’s receipt upon entry. You can just show them the email confirmation or a screenshot of the receipt on your phone.
You can pick the strawberries on your own, or you can also opt for the pre-picked ones.
Strawberries here cost $4.15 per pound. However, if you want to have more, you can also take home 5 pounds of pre-picked strawberries for $32.
5. Strawberry Fields
Image Source: Strawberry Fields
Strawberry Fields is an expansive farm, and you can take your time picking the strawberries in your designated rows.
The picking season starts in July, but they also have available appointments in August and September.
Just note that it can be a bit hard to secure an appointment. The tickets are limited, and they can’t really open throughout the summer without determining if the strawberries are ready and available.
Don’t fret if you’re having trouble scoring an appointment earlier in the picking season because there will be more opportunities later.
In fact, they recommend visiting in late August and September because it’s when they have a larger supply of strawberries.
The strawberries here cost $5 per pound. Plus, they offer free baskets, but you can still bring your own if you want.
From what we’ve seen on the customers’ reviews, the strawberries here taste better than the usual store-bought strawberries.
Well, to taste is to believe! If you have time, you can pop in and try their strawberries.
Remember that when you book an appointment, it’s best to estimate how many baskets you’ll need. You see, they need this information to determine the number of appointments they need to set for that day.
For example, if you need 10 baskets, they need to reserve at least 10 rows of strawberries. Of course, you can still pick less or more.
The only problem is that if you book the appointment without saying how many baskets you need and then decide to get 10 baskets on your visit, they may not be able to cater to you.
