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Chris Hardie For Agri-View
Jun 27, 2026
4 hrs ago

1 of 4

A bowl of strawberries offers sweetness from Chris and Sherry Hardie’s strawberry patch.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

Chris Hardie needs to water his strawberry bed earlier this spring because of dry weather conditions.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

The Hardies’ overgrown strawberry patch started this past year with a few rows that quickly spread.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

The taste of early summer is fresh strawberries. Note the brown leaves that were the result of heavy frosts this spring.

Chris Hardie/For Agri-View

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Chris Hardie For Agri-View

Starting our new garden area this past year was a lot of work but we are finally experiencing the fruits of our labor. The past year’s plantings of strawberries are now providing us the sweet taste of late spring that’s always a delicious way to welcome summer.

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Chris Hardie and his wife, Sherry, live on his great-grandparents’ Jackson County farm. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001, he is a former member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and past president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His book “Back Home: Country Tales by the Seasons” is available through Amazon.