Metro area strawberry farm closes after 26 years

WALTON COUNTY, Ga. — A metro area strawberry farm where visitors have picked their own berries for the last 26 years is closing.

Channel 2's Berndt Petersen visited Washington Farms in Oconee County, where the owners and their customers were a bit teary-eyed over it all.

John Washington said he'll never forget the day he told his wife, Donna Washington, he was done with dress shirts and neckties.

"So I decided to become a strawberry farmer. What I didn't know was it's one of the most difficult and hardest crops you can grow," John Washington said.

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It was 26 years ago when the couple and their five children established Washington Farms in Oconee and Walton counties. Every year, they tended to 230,000 strawberry plants across 14 acres. And every year, visitors drove in from miles around to pick them.

"It's kind of a rite of passage, bringing out kids and grandkids out here. They love it," said longtime customer Susan Breda.

The Washingtons say they make a living by making friends.

"It's a wonderful thing. It's kind of like a family reunion in the spring. 'Hey! How have your been?'" Donna Washington said.

Although they don't look it, John and Donna Washington are now in their 60's and it's time to slow down a bit. Still, it's not easy to say goodbye.

"We were young so it was hard to understand what dad meant when he said we were gonna grow strawberries," said daughter Amy Washington. "It's a loss of who we are, you know? Watching my dad do what he did, taking a big risk at 40 years old, starting a new career path. I've watched what he built with my mom and with all of us. We were all a part of it."

John and Donna Washington said it was a wonderful place to raise their children and meet the families who visited year after year.

"Kids come out here when they were little, and now they're grown up and they're bringing their kids," John Washington said.

No more strawberries, but John and Donna will still grow blueberries and blackberries and pumpkins.

They hold a fall festival every year and that will continue.

Cox Media Group