Jake Carter, fifth generation owner of Southern Belle Farm in McDonough, certainly has something to be happy about these days.

This year has proven to be an excellent harvest season, so much so, that strawberries were in season months before they usually are.

“It’s been a great season,” he said. “The first part of our strawberry season started in March. It usually doesn’t start until the middle part of April and lasts until June.”

The three months strawberries have been ripe for the picking has been a “long season,” according to Carter.

Plump, juicy strawberries are not the only item that Southern Belle Farm has in store.

Now, the fruits in season are blackberries and blueberries.

Residents can come and pick to their desire enough of either fruit in a gallon bucket. Blackberries go for $10 of the massive gallon bucket, while blueberries cost a little more at $15.

The farm is also offering another in demand crop for the summer months, just in time for grilling season.

“We actually have sweet corn on sale that we pick ourselves,” said Carter. “The sweet corn is $4 dollars for a dozen ears.”

Carter could not place an exact figure on the number of people that stream through Southern Belle, but he knew offhand that it was significant.

“That’s hard to say,” he said. “There’s several thousand people that come out in our spring and summer months. We’ve never really sat down and tried to figure out how many people come out.”

Carter said part of that reason is because they do not charge for admission into the area and require customers to only pay for what they pick.

Activity at the farm is not just limited to the summertime. Once the heat tapers off and is replaced with streams of falling leaves and breezy afternoons, Southern Belle hosts a corn maze and a pumpkin patch.

The picking of fruits and the maze are all intended to foster what Carter refers to as a family-friendly environment.

“Families are looking for things to do together,” he said. “We try to specialize an experience on the farm that people can come out and have fun — together.”