CLERMONT, Fla. – A Lake County farm reopened this month to offer a holiday activity you might not expect.

Southern Hill Farms in Clermont planted strawberries for the first time this year, and they arrived early.

"Strawberries are one of the most iconic fruits of summer. But in Florida, it’s flipped.

“Strawberries (in Florida) are December, January, February, March," said David Hill, owner of Southern Hill Farms. "When I tell friends of mine from anyone other than Florida, they can’t believe we have strawberries.”

Even Hill was a little surprised at how early the fruits of his labor flourished, especially since this was the farm’s first shot at planting strawberries. He was expecting he’d have to fight more frosts or freezes, then harvest after the new year.

So far they taste great! They’re beautiful," said marketing director Brooke Hill.

Brooke Hill has been busy blasting the word out that the berries are now prime for the picking.

“I’m happy that we’ve been able to say ‘hey we’re going to do this, we’re going to let people safely come out and pick their own strawberries,'" she said.

People can socially distance while picking their favorite fruits. But the Hill family says they’ll still cap capacity. They adapted to the demands of the pandemic by offering drive through crop pickups, and ticketing their events to prevent crowding.

“I’ll tell you what, it worked really well. Everyone was happy," David Hill said. "The only people that weren’t happy were the people who couldn’t get tickets, because we were sold out every weekend.”

He says they’ll continue offering those options, always picking safety first. 

“We’ve learned a lot. We’ll never go back to being real crowded. We won’t allow it to happen.”

The farm will be open multiple days each week for U-Pick Strawberries.​