EDGEFIELD COUNTY, S.C. (WFXG) - Gurosik's Berry Plantation has been producing farm fresh berries for at least four decades. They offer customers the ability to pick their own strawberries out at the farm in Edgefield County.

What started as one small strawberry patch in 1982 has grown to six massive strawberry fields.

"Every customer that comes in has prime, new picking," co-owner Clyde Gurosik said they have a flag system for their u-pick operation to make sure the strawberries are fresh.

It's strawberries that can be eaten right out of the field, without the chemicals found on strawberries at the grocery store.

"Most of them come because it is a true, family experience. See, there's so many places that advertise something like that, but they don't do it," Gurosik said. "This gives them a chance to be parents and grandparents with the children to help them establish principles, morals and see where their food comes from."

In the dead heat of summer, Gurosik's crew picks berries in the wee hours of the morning wearing headlamps.

"When they leave at the end of the summer, my wife cries and I'm almost dripping tears too because they're our extended family," Gurosik said.

He wants kids to know, the farm is where strawberries come from, not the grocery store.

"They think that strawberries grow on the shelves of Walmart," Gurosik laughed. "And they think they taste bad. And then they come out here and they taste one and they go, oh! I like strawberries. I didn't think I liked them! But now they like them."

He calls grocery store strawberries beautiful disappointments.

"It's red all the way through and juicy," he described a strawberry from his field. "You won't find that in the grocery store!"

Customers can pick as many gallons of strawberries as their heart desires, for $16 per gallon.

Gurosik said the biggest berries are a message from God.

"They always come right about Easter. They've got three big lobes on them. And you know what, Easter is the time that we saw God in three persons for the first time and those strawberries always happen about Easter," he said.

At Gurosik's, it's not slim pickings when it comes to having a good time.

Customers can find 30,000 hungry catfish in the pond. Feeding them is especially fun for the little ones.

"She's making memories that'll last a lifetime," Gurosik said about a little girl tossing food into the pond.

Gurosik's also has multiple roadside markets where you can pick up farm fresh fruits and veggies of all kinds, including one in Aiken and two in the Martinez and Evans areas.

The roadside market in Aiken is located on the bypass at 1310 East Pine Log Road at Aiken Senior Life, formerly known as Boots, Brides and Britches.

Gurosik's roadside market also has a location at the corner of Riverwatch Parkway and Baston Road.

Another location sits at the corner of Furys Ferry Road and Mulliken Road.

Customers can also take photos in the strawberry fields and it doesn't cost a thing. They also have a beautiful rose garden available for more photo opportunities.

Come back with us next week as we EAT. PLAY. GO. our way through the CSRA!

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