It was on a dusty farm outside Tel Aviv that entrepreneur Xolani Gumede discovered what a strawberry tastes like. "It came straight off the plant, it was at room temperature and with a juiciness that could not be matched."It's one of the reasons he and his wife Yoliswa are opening their strawberry farm - one of three in KZN and the only one in Ballito - for a one-day strawberry-picking festival at the end of September."Everyone should experience the extraordinary taste of a strawberry they picked themselves."The 17ha Cappeny Estates strawberry farm has been an unmitigated success for the glamorous couple. Now in its third year of production, supply cannot keep up with demand. The plump, luscious, ruby-red fruit are snapped up by supermarket chains, restaurants and high-end hotels.It has not been an easy road for the Gumedes. Though they did their homework, the farm was initially a barren piece of land, and they had to build a dam, lay electricity and establish roads.There was also a period of trial and error while they honed in on the variety of strawberry (there are over 100 species) that would best suit the hot, humid Ballito coastline.Ecotourism was always part of the plan."We want to be an urban farm that supplies retailers but also gives tourists a chance to come in and engage," said Yoliswa who has a marketing background and ran her own successful marketing company until she joined forces with her husband."The demand for strawberry picking has accelerated our plans - we have people calling daily asking when they can pick our strawberries. It's such a wonderful family experience."The Gumedes wisely held back until everything was ready."When we saw our fields bursting with fruit it was tempting, but we needed to be ready in terms of safety and production. You have to be mindful that you are still running a business and you need to minimise risks. We now feel we are ready."Although they expected a positive response they have been overwhelmed by the amount of interest in the festival."We put the event on Facebook and the numbers of visits grew from hundreds to thousands in a matter of hours. Within days we had over 150000 clicks; in less than a week we had 6000 attending - and we hadn't yet done any advertising!"There's a lot on offer aside from strawberry picking: music, strawberry jam sessions, cooking demos with Clover, a kiddies play area, wine and strawberry pairings, a beer garden (with a strawberry inspired craft beer), a strawberry inspired crazy-hat competition; a strawberry eating contest, stalls of locally produced food and even a live screening of the Springboks vs Samoa Rugby World Cup game."We see this as the first of an annual event," added Yoliswa.The inaugural Ballito Strawberry Festival takes place on Saturday, September 26. Gates open at 8am. Tickets are only available through Computicket. Entranceis R80 with an additional R50 fee for strawberry picking. For more information, email: festival@cappenyestates.com..