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CHASSELL -- People are gathering up their strawberries by the handful at Henry Ohtonen's farm in Chassell.

Warm weather allowed Ohtonen to begin planting in April, so his berries were ripe for the picking by mid-June.

"An early season is good because people are ready to pick," says Ohtonen.  "A late season hurts because you run into raspberry and blueberry season."

While some heavy rain toward the end of spring destroyed dozens of crops; a majority of the original 17,000 plants survived.

"It was dry at first, but then there was so much rain that anything that touched the ground spoiled," Ohtonen says.  "But people still worked around it and got what they wanted."

Ohtonen was able to provide 100 flats of berries for this weekend's Strawberry Festival with plenty left in the fields to pick.  His customers seem to agree that this year's berries are tasty as ever.

"They’re beautiful, luscious berries, perfect for picking," says Karen Runvik.  "I’m going to can and dry them and eat as many as possible."

"The berries are great," says Evelyn Larson.  "I usually freeze them and give some to my neighbors."

If you're still hoping to pick strawberries this season, you'll have to hurry.  Ohtonen says the early start means that his berries will likely be gone by the end of the week.