Courtesy photo Betsy Rouleau, Terry Ferguson, Nick Rouleau, Jack Rouleau, and Luke Rouleau pose for a photo after picking strawberries. Picking and selling strawberries during the summer has been a family tradition for decades.

HUBBARD LAKE — Thirty years ago, Terry and Linda Ferguson decided to go pick strawberries to make some jam. With their kids, Douglas and Betsy, in tow they headed out to the patch.

After realizing they picked too many berries, they took them to Hubbard Lake corners to sell them. Thinking this was a good way to earn a little extra money and a good teaching tool for their children. It became a tradition for the family.

Year after year, they went every available picking day and saved the money for their family vacation. They mostly picked at Glen Herron’s farm until it was devastated by the two local ice storms.

After the kids were grown and on their own, Terry continued to pick and became an icon on Hubbard Lake corners. He was known as “Terry’s Berries’ and folks would wait for Terry to show up with the pickup full.

Douglas had no interest but Betsy would come up and pick with her dad. Her and her husband, Eric, can work from home so after picking during the early morning, come back to her folk’s house and put in their normal eight-hour day working. Eric doesn’t pick but sometimes goes along to supervise.

Fast forward to this year, they have four boys ranging from 4 to 10 years old. Every year they still come up North from their home in Hudsonville to pick strawberries at AJ’s. Terry, Linda, Jack, Lucas, Nick and Benny. The boys had to get up early and Jack picked 54 quarts. This is a family tradition that teaches work ethics and quality time with grandpa. I wonder how many thousands of quarts this family has picked in 30 years?