Local farm’s innovative system to grow fresh fruit in the winter months

PENDER COUNTY (WWAY) — If you are a lover of fresh, locally grown fruit in the summer, you’re in luck. You can still get it this winter.

Lewis Farms has been growing its winter berries for more than two decades to provide fruit to costumers early on in the season.

They do this by growing the fruit under a protective covering.

The high tunnels help keep the fruit up to twenty degrees warmer than the outside temperature on a sunny day, which is what helps this fruit flourish outside of its typical growing season.

Lewis Farms Manager Walt Webb revealed that traditional strawberry season can last from six to eight weeks.

But, by developing this unique growing system, “we’re able to start getting fruit in early November, and we’re able to have strawberries all the way from November until May.”

You can pick your own winter berries at Lewis Farms on Gordon Road on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until December 23rd.