A fruit and veg grower near York says he is overwhelmed by the response to his social media post offering his raspberries for free.
Rich Morritt of Sand Hutton Asparagus said that he was having trouble finding workers to pick the fruit this year and has made a decision to give them away.
What he didn’t expect was the number of people who would take him up on that offer and he’s now had to ask people not to come anymore today as he has very few raspberries left.
This was his post on Facebook yesterday (Tuesday): “Sadly, we will not be harvesting our raspberries this year. The shortage of labour has made it unviable.
“We are sad because we will lose income and sad that we have a crop of beautiful fruit, that will just rot on the canes.
“On the plus side, if anyone wants to come and pick (for free) some raspberries and take them home, bring receptacles and come and help yourself.
“Come as often as you want and bring your friends – there’s loads!
“We envisage around 3/4 weeks picking.”
Rich told YorkMix that he was amazed with the reaction to the post which was quickly shared far and wide.
He never expected the level of response he has had this morning with more than 300 cars turning up.
A message on the Facebook page at just after 12 noon said: “Can people stop coming, we’ve very few raspberries left now.
“There should be more towards the weekend.”
The lack of workers from abroad, due to factors including Covid and Brexit, meant no one was available to harvest the raspberry crop.