"He keeps them in really good shape," said Larry Cox, strawberry wine maker.

On the vine of life, Charlie's been lucky, until July.

"The last Sunday in July, we had hail," said Homegrown Paradise owner Charlie Deimeke. "Come over here the next day and the hail hit most of the strawberries. To see it all gone so quick, it was really hard."

The Deimeke's opened Homegrown Paradise the summer of 2006. The unique thing about this farm is that it's a hydroponic farm. Which essentially means the strawberries are grown without dirt. Not to mention, the berries are grown in vertical pots.

"As far as financially, this was easily looking like the best year we were going to have here," said Deimeke.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature pays no mind to the bottom line. The Deimeke's lost more than 80% of their crops.

"You don't want to know what I said. We're closed on Mondays, and I was glad I didn't have to face customers," Deimeke said.

The decision to sell was not based on finances.

"Probably more emotional than anything," said Deimeke. "I would like to see somebody take it, and get it going for next summer. I'd rather not see it just all pushed in a pile."

And he's not the only one. Larry Cox has gold medals that depend on Homegrown Paradise strawberries. Cox is a wine maker.

"We won the gold medal in the Indiana State Fair," Cox said.

It's the second largest international competition for amateurs.

"Strawberry blonde" gets all of her berries from Charlie.

"Hopefully, if he does sell, the next owner will keep producing strawberries and we can come back," Cox said.

Right now, Homegrown Paradise isn't the strawberry heaven it once was. But with a little work Charlie hopes it will be again.

"This is just a chapter," said Deimeke.

A tasty chapter. But just a chapter, nonetheless.

"Life's been good to me... It'll go on," said Cox.