At age 72, John Jolivette is the third generation of his family in the fruit and vegetable business.

These days, he works part time at Jolivette Family Farms, best known in the area for its strawberries, sweet corn and pumpkin patch. He still enjoys growing things and the variety the business gives him.

Jolivette and his wife, Joan, have six children. Three of them — John M., Joe and Paula Jolivette — are involved in the business and will take it over when their parents retire.

It’s a family tradition, said John, whose grandfather raised fruit and vegetables on French Island. John’s father, Cleveland, did the same on a farm near Onalaska. That is where John was raised.

Today, the John Jolivette family raises fruit and vegetables on about 80 acres of their West Salem farm. They farm slightly more than 500 acres near West Salem and Mindoro, Wis. Certified organic soybeans and corn account for the rest of their crops.

Strawberries and bedding plants, such as flowers, are the most popular items at the family’s roadside stand in West Salem, which usually is open from April until just after Halloween, Jolivette said. The family’s warehouse operates year-round, buying and wholesaling potatoes, onions, rutabagas and fresh fruit in the winter.

This year, the Jolivettes began harvesting their first crop — asparagus — the last week in April. Later, they will harvest strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and vegetables such as cabbage, tomatoes, peppers and sweet corn. The busiest time is from May to early September.

“It’s nice to be able to switch off” from one crop to another, Jolivette said. “I like the variety.” He said he also enjoys “seeing things growing and looking good.”

About a month ago, Jolivette was planting new strawberry plants at his West Salem fruit and vegetable farm. He drove a small tractor that crept across the field at a snail’s pace, pulling a special planter. Four workers sat in seats on the planter, manually feeding individual strawberry plants into it.

The strawberry plants will bear fruit for three years before Jolivette replaces them.

The harvest probably will begin in mid-June, for the plants Jolivette’s crew were planting last week. Jolivette strawberries are exceptionally sweet, he said.

Other crops planted so far this spring are sweet corn, cabbage and kohlrabi.

Jolivette said his crews will plant sweet corn several times during the growing season, so the farm will have corn to sell from mid-July until the first major freeze, which usually is around Nov. 1.

So far, it’s been a good growing season, he said.

“We like drier weather, without a lot of rain” in the spring, as that makes it easier to plant, he said.

Jolivette said he most enjoys the bedding plant business. “One nice thing about our business is the season changes,” he said. “If you get tired of bedding plants, the strawberry season is starting. And then the sweet corn season starts. Then we go to melons. And the first thing you know, it’s fall.”

Like many farmers, Jolivette also enjoys being able to work outdoors.

In his spare time, he said, “I like to play cards and go hunting. But it gets harder” to hunt as one gets older, he added.

Jolivette plays cards with friends, and enjoys deer hunting with his children.

John and Joan Jolivette married in 1955. Then he worked for The Trane Co. in La Crosse from 1952 to 1961. After that, the Jolivettes bought a dairy farm near Mindoro. “We milked cows until 1970 and then we bought this” in 1970 from his third cousin, Fred Jolivette, and his wife, Sal, when they retired, John said.

Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@lacrossetribune.com.