Berry Berry Good
Yesterday I bit into my first hand-picked strawberry and I practically had to stop myself from drooling as I quickly washed more berries off; they are so sweet and delicious that I wanted to enjoy them as fast as possible. If you’ve ever tried fresh produce then you probably know what I’m talking about. There’s something pure and simple that makes them have so much more flavor than anything you can buy at the store.
It turns out that Lane Southern Orchards, the same company that produces Georgia peaches in the summer, also grows strawberries in the spring and has a pick-your-own strawberry patch. A few weeks ago, there was a Groupon to get 10 pounds worth of strawberries for the price of five pounds. Unfortunately, I didn’t jump on that deal since I knew we’d be going out of town and moving soon, and didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew. But my friend Natalie took advantage of the deal and called to see if I wanted to go pick berries with her. Armed with my camera, I happily obliged.
The strawberry patch was much larger than I expected, filled with rows and rows of strawberries. Before entering the field, they hand you a bucket that will hold roughly five pounds of berries, then they set you free to get your pick on.
We weren’t the only ones there picking fruit—the place was packed! Local schools take field trips and get to take strawberries home with them. I wish I went on a berry-picking field trip when I was their age!
While Natalie and I picked our berries, her son sat amongst the patch and chewed a piece of straw. I’m not kidding when I say my husband and I may “borrow” him for an extended period of time. I can’t get over how cute he is.
But before long, he realized that the little red things next to him were actually edible.
Don’t you worry. His mom came to his rescue and cleaned off the strawberry before he devoured it.
Did you know that when you pick a strawberry from its stem it makes a “pop” sound? I loved hearing it, because it reminded me just how fresh the berries were.
So what do you do with pounds of fresh strawberries? Well, you make something delicious, of course! When I get back from my trip I’m going to make strawberry ice cream and a couple other things, but yesterday I made a Strawberry Pineapple Crumble that is just absolutely scrumptious. What’s your favorite way to eat strawberries?
I love that something this fun and exciting is just down the road for me, and I’m happy I took advantage of picking berries while they’re in season.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need another strawberry…or five. They’re seriously addicting!
There is a serious lack of U-Pick farms in Georgia, which I think is surprising! The closest one to us is still almost an hour away (apple farm), which is sad. 🙁 I would LOVE to pick berries! You MUST try those nutella filled strawberries and tell me how they are!
Those berries look delicious! My grandparents have a garden and used to grow strawberries every year, so we'd have fresh strawberries rather frequently! My favorite way to have them is with homemade shortcake.
That is an amazing Groupon deal and I wish they'd had one here! I've never picked my own, but I'm trying to-I have a strawberry plant growing on my patio!
http://www.pickyourown.org: not the prettiest site out there, but the most useful one I've found in trying to find u-pick places while moving around a lot.
We're from Florida where strawberry season starts in late January so down here we're all used to pick your own!
Yummy!
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adorable! the photos look great.
and just for the record, stealing babies for an extended period of time is just called babysitting, which you're free to do anytime. 🙂
Strawberries are my ultimate favorite berry! Those look delicious! Maybe I'll take the kiddos to do this next year. Right now, the idea of getting down to get those off the stems does NOT sound fun. I'm WAY too big for that. I'm glad you enjoyed it though. Now send me some of that crumble!
How fun! I've never seen a place where you could pick your own strawberries! I love them, and they're one of the few fruits I'm not allergic to!
Last year, my husband and I went to a U-pick strawberry farm and we made this cake: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/strawberry-shortcakecake/. It was SOOO delicious. I highly recommend it if you have time. Happy eating!
I love the pictures of Elliott…the strawberries look pretty delicious too. And you will have to get past me before you can have him for an extended period of time…hahaha
Yay! You're photos are beautiful! I apologize for forgetting to write back to you until this moment. Life is good but not normal right now 🙂
Ahhh I love strawberry picking! Now I'm craving strawberries. Stumbled upon your blog – I'm your newest follower 🙂
Oh yummm!!! These look so good. I wish we could get fresh fruit here in Alaska that wasn't an arm and a leg when it came to price. Looks like you guys had a great time!!
Omgosh I have a crazy desire to eat something strawberry now…