Strawberry Fields. . .

Amelia Picking Strawberries Last Year

Ok, I'm still without a camera so you'll have to bear with me. Just close your eyes and picture a giant bowl (about 15 pounds worth) of the most beautiful, reddest, juiciest, most plump strawberries you've ever seen. Now picture that image right here . . . .


Because that's what I had sitting on my counter yesterday. I took the kids to a local strawberry patch and we had a ball! A kid came out and gave us our little baskets and told us where to pick. I showed the kids how to find the reddest berries and put them in their baskets. They did great. . . for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I'm picking berries like a madwoman trying to get 10ish pounds before their attention spans run out. Even after they got bored I kept going. Then they started running up and down the rows chasing each other. After my mild heart attack when Reese tripped and just about took out 15 gorgeous strawberry plants (yes, I was more worried about the plants than my sturdy little tank, uh, I mean, sweet little child.) I was about to give up. Then the guy who owns the patch came over with another basket. He called the kids down to the next row over from me, kinda sternly. Mama Bear antennae popped out of my head and I mentally prepared myself for a smackdown. He set the basket on the ground and showed them how to pick strawberries.

'First, lift up the bunch of strawberries and look for a good, big, red one. Pull it off and put it in your basket, like so. See? Ok, now pick another berry. That one goes in your mouth.' Two pairs of adoring eyes gazing up at him in disbelief. 'Ok, now you try. Pick a berry and put it in the basket! Good! You're doing great! Hey Mama, there's no pesticides on these, no worries! No, no, no, no, you're not doing it right. You need to eat more strawberries. Like this. There ya go, now put some in the basket for your Mommy. Now, eat some more berries.'

Then he took the 2 flats I had back to his shed and brought me 2 more. The antennae retracted and I had a blast picking berries by myself! It's so satisfying! And when you find a big, ripe clump of them it feels like you hit a jackpot. I filled those flats up SO fast! Honestly, if I didn't have the kids to take care of I would happily have spent the whole day out there picking strawberries.