Strawberries are ripening early and growers are worried they won’t have enough pickers. Many of the pickers are kids, who won’t get out of school for a few more weeks.

Strawberries are ripening early and growers are worried they won’t have enough pickers. Many of the pickers are kids, who won’t get out of school for a few more weeks.

Strawberry crop abundant, but people to help with harvest aren’t

ARLINGTON — The strawberries are earlier than Mike Biringer can remember.

And he’s been a berry grower for a long time.

This year’s haul also is one of the best crops the 79-year-old farmer has seen.

Now it’s just a matter of getting enough people to pick them.

The farmer and his wife, Dianna, are the second generation to run Biringer Farm. Their son also works there. They’ve been at 21412 59th Ave. NE in Arlington for about a decade. Before that, the farm was in Marysville. Their family has been growing berries in Snohomish County since 1948.

Biringer Farm is a popular spot for U-pick strawberries and hundreds of people came to pick over Memorial Day weekend, Mike Biringer said.

However, more than half of the farm’s business comes from hiring pickers and selling strawberries on site, at farmers markets and produce stands and to processors. Biringer likes to have a crew of at least 50 pickers, preferably 70. This week, they have a dozen adult pickers in the mornings and 15 to 20 teens who come after school.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

“We’re going to be struggling this year to get enough people to pick,” Biringer said. “It’s kind of a seasonal thing, so people think of strawberries more when school gets out.”

The start of strawberry season always has varied a bit, but usually it falls between June 6 and 17, he said. They’ve struggled some years to get berries in time for the Marysville Strawberry Festival, which is on Father’s Day weekend.

For the past two years, strawberry season has started weeks early.

Last year, picking was under way by May 30. This year, it started May 21.

Biringer credits the early season to consistently warm temperatures this spring. He expects the strawberries will be ripe for a few more weeks. Normally, strawberry season continues past the Fourth of July, but he doesn’t expect it to last that long this year.

The Biringers also grow raspberries, tayberries, black raspberries and some blackberries and blueberries. The strawberries and raspberries are most popular, and raspberry season looks to be early, too. One variety of raspberries is ripe this week and others are expected to be ready for picking by mid-June. Most years, raspberry picking is good into August.

“I don’t think that’ll happen this year because we’re just shifted earlier,” Biringer said.

Late Tuesday morning, about 25 people were filling flats with strawberries from the U-pick patch. The top leaves of the plants tickled adult pickers’ knees when they stood between rows and young children giggled as they ducked out of view to find the perfect red, ripe strawberry.

Joan and Jim Hill, of Lake Stevens, have been coming to Biringer Farm together just about every year for a decade. Joan Hill freezes strawberries to save them for the rest of the year. It took them about 40 minutes to load up two flats. Joan Hill teased her husband, whose flat had more berries, that he must have picked a better row than she did.

Jim Hill got good at picking strawberries as a kid, when he would walk from his house on 92nd Avenue in Marysville to Biringer Farm’s former location on 88th Avenue. He and Joan picked berries in the Biringers’ fields for a few weeks each year as a summer job.

It’s an early season but the strawberries are looking good, he said. He hopes to come back and pick more.

“Heck, I’d come back and do it again tomorrow,” he said. “But I think if you give it two more days, these will be perfect.”

Carrie Dooley brought her 3-year-old daughter, Avonlea, to Biringer Farm on Tuesday. The Dooley family moved to Lake Stevens from Spokane about a year and a half ago. Though it was their first visit to Biringer, they’ve been picking strawberries for years and Dooley uses some for strawberry shortcake and the rest to make jam for her three school-age children’s peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Avonlea held her hand in the air and tightened her fingers to show how she would squish a strawberry.

“We squish them so we can make jelly,” she explained.

She looks for the big, dark red ones that will make the sweetest jam. “I don’t pick the yucky ones.”

Avonlea was born in July and Dooley remembers picking strawberries in Eastern Washington during the last few weeks of her pregnancy. To be out picking on the last day of May was a surprise, she said.

She recommends that people get out to the fields soon. Bring sunscreen and water, she warned.

It doesn’t take long to fill a flat. Hers was loaded within half an hour. But Avonlea wasn’t done yet.

The energetic 3-year-old, with a pink-and-white striped shirt and blonde hair tied back in twin braids, just needed a minute to drink her Capri Sun and regain her motivation.

“We need to pick some more,” she said.

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Snohomish County Health Department Director Dennis Worsham on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Health Department director tapped as WA health secretary

Dennis Worsham became the first director of the county health department in January 2023. His last day will be July 3.

Julia Zavgorodniy waves at her family after scanning the crowd to find them during Mariner High School’s 2025 commencement on Friday, June 13, 2025, at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Dream without limit’: Thousands of Snohomish County seniors graduate

Graduations at the arena conclude this weekend with three Everett high schools on Saturday and Monroe High School on Sunday.

Police Cmdr. Scott King answers questions about the Flock Safety license plate camera system on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mountlake Terrace approves Flock camera system after public pushback

The council approved the $54,000 license plate camera system agreement by a vote of 5-2.

Cascadia College Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Midori Sakura looks in the surrounding trees for wildlife at the North Creek Wetlands on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Cascadia College ecology students teach about the importance of wetlands

To wrap up the term, students took family and friends on a guided tour of the North Creek wetlands.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen goes through an informational slideshow about the current budget situation in Edmonds during a roundtable event at the Edmonds Waterfront Center on Monday, April 7, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edmonds mayor recommends $19M levy lid lift for November

The city’s biennial budget assumed a $6 million levy lid lift. The final levy amount is up to the City Council.

A firefighting helicopter carries a bucket of water from a nearby river to the Bolt Creek Fire on Saturday, Sep. 10, 2022, on U.S. 2 near Index, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Snohomish County property owners can prepare for wildfire season

Clean your roofs, gutters and flammable material while completing a 5-foot-buffer around your house.

(City of Everett)
Everett’s possible new stadium has a possible price tag

City staff said a stadium could be built for $82 million, lower than previous estimates. Bonds and private investment would pay for most of it.

Jennifer Humelo, right, hugs Art Cass outside of Full Life Care Snohomish County on Wednesday, May 28, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘I’ll lose everything’: Snohomish County’s only adult day health center to close

Full Life Care in Everett, which supports adults with disabilities, will shut its doors July 19 due to state funding challenges.

‘No Kings’ rallies draw thousands to Everett and throughout Snohomish County

Demonstrations were held nationwide to protest what organizers say is overreach by President Donald Trump and his administration.

Marysville is planning a new indoor sports facility, 350 apartments and a sizable hotel east of Ebey Waterfront Park. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New report shifts outlook of $25M Marysville sports complex

A report found a conceptual 100,000-square-foot sports complex may require public investment to pencil out.

Logo for news use featuring Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Snohomish County Board of Health looking to fill vacancy

The county is accepting applications until the board seat is filled.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.