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Swanton Berry Farm


CYBER FARM TOUR


We're located along the coast of California, south of San Francisco and north of Santa Cruz, near a tiny town called Davenport. We rent several parcels of land with spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. It's generally cool here in the summer, and warm (at least not freeezing!) in the winter. Strawberries are like Goldilocks-- they dont like it too hot or too cold!

View of Farm and
OceanWe grow mostly strawberries, but also have delicious broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes and peas. Everything we grow is Certified Organic by California Certified Organic Farmers. We grow everything we sell; we don't contract with other farmers to grow for us. This allows us to give you a higher level of assurance of quality, organic standards, and labor practices.

Rows Of Strawberries Ready For Harvest









Strawberries ready for harvest

Our strawberry season starts in April with a trickle of production. Our peak harvest period (and the largest fruit size) occurs in mid-May. Production drops off during June, and limps along throughout the summer. We pick every day of the week during the season, going over each field every four or five days.

In the Spring, we start land preparation for the Fall strawberry planting. In an effort to protect the fish habitat we limit our water usage thereby limiting our total planted acreage.

First, we will disc in the winter 'cover crop'. Then we add compost, and work that in. Then we plant another cover crop, this time a legume. We disc that in about July. Then we begin making our beds, and adding additional nutrients to the beds as we go. We will have to sprinkle the beds a little to help in shaping them (they need to be very tall--12"-14") and don't hold their shape well unless they are a little damp. The moisture also helps the decomposition of the cover crop and the incorporation of the nutrients.

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