- I'm in Helenville at Jelli's Market,
learning about one of Wisconsin's
favorite summertime activities: berry picking.
[lively music]
I sat down with Libby,
whose parents bought this farm in the '80s
but didn't start strawberry farming 'til 2001.
- Libby Hafften: They've got a little bit
of farming background,
but kind of jumped into strawberries headfirst.
Didn't really know anything they were doing,
but it's kind of exploded since then, obviously.
And now we have blueberries and raspberries, apples, pumpkins.
One thing for sure that makes us unique
is we don't have an admission fee.
That is one thing that my parents really were against
when they decided
that they wanted to be more of a u-pick farm
and let people come and get their own produce.
It's just nice that we allow people to come
and just hang out if they want to
and be in agriculture and be away from the city
and learn something new while they're here.
- Customer: Thank you.
- That's truly creating a space
for the community. - Yeah.
People can come in the farm store and buy meat
like pork and beef and lamb, chicken, turkeys.
And then any of our other products.
- Angela: There's an array of different food items
that people can enjoy fresh throughout the year.
- Libby: Absolutely. - Well, welcome.
Thanks for coming.
- So you and your sister still run the farm?
- Yes.
My sister Lindsay and I co-manage Jelli's together now.
She does a lot of the berries and the vegetables.
I'm mainly in charge of our orchard.
So I get to work with not only my sister, but my best friend.
And, you know, we get sick of each other
and bicker like sisters do, but at the end of the day,
we both want our business to succeed
and we want to make our family better,
so we have the same goal in mind.
- Angela: I love that.
And you're able to continue your family's legacy together.
- Libby: Yes, exactly.
- So, Libby, I do want to go out
and pick some blueberries with you.
- Okay. - Before we do that,
is there anything I should keep in mind?
Anything unique about blueberry picking
for a first-time blueberry picker?
- [laughs] Well, what color are blueberries?
- They're blue. - They are blue, that's good.
So we should probably make sure
we don't pick any green ones, right?
- Okay, I'm assuming that means they're not ready, or?
- That would be correct. - Okay, okay.
That's good to know. - That's the biggest tip.
- Make sure they're blue at the time of picking.
- Yes.
And other than that, it's pretty easy.
- Okay, awesome.
Well, can you go show me? - Absolutely!
- Thank you.
With my first blueberry picking lesson under my belt,
we headed out to the field.
With a little help.
So which ones feel ripe for picking over here?
- Well, we want the blue ones.
- Angela: And a taste or two.
- You wanna try one? - Mm-hmm.
These are good. - Mm-hmm.
And we allow people to, y'know, eat while they pick.
That's part of the fun. - Aww.
- Part of the experience. - I'm sure that's appreciated.
Whether in the field or in the shop,
Jelli's Market offers a tasty way to enjoy a Wisconsin summer.
[gentle music]