It's strawberry picking time for local farms.

It's a short season, but definitely worth the trip to area growers.Gould's Produce in Brodheadsville, Heckman Orchards in Effort, and Graver's Orchards in Lehighton are all open for picking.All three sell their berries at their own produce stands and to wholesale stores and they allow folks to go out into the fields and pick their own.Each farm follows the same process for planting, growing and harvesting.The strawberries are planted in the spring the year before they are to be picked.This means that farmers must spend a full year feeding the plant and protecting it from pests and the cold of winter.Around the end of the following spring, the berries are ready to be harvested by workers and patrons alike.There's a short window, however.Strawberries usually begin to bloom at the end of May or beginning of June and are done around the beginning or middle of July.These time frames depend on the weather and temperature.According to Russell Gould, whose parents own Gould's Produce, the individual berries allow an even smaller window of time for optimal eating."You only have two days to pick them when they're ripe. Any longer than that and they go bad," Gould said.Perhaps the longevity of the growing and the fleeting harvest time are why so few are willing to grow the plant."It's definitely a big risk to take. It's a lot of work for a vulnerable crop. Each year we either have a lot of them come in or hardly any at all," Graver's owner Richard Graver said.The three farms grow several varieties of strawberries, each with its own distinct combination of size, color and taste.Gould's and Graver's sells eight varieties on six and two acres of land respectively, and Heckman's sells 12 varieties on six acres.Mark Heckman, co-owner of Heckman's, has noticed the demand for the succulent plant."It's been a bumper crop year for strawberries. Anything we can pick, we can sell," Heckman said.