Strawberry Pickin'

Oregon seems to be the perfect climate fro growing strawberries and as soon as we flip the calendar page to June, every country road has a 'You Pick Strawberries' sign every 5 miles.

Growing up I would go with my mom each summer and load up orange and olive green tupperware bowls with strawberries that were bigger than my child sized fist.  My mom still tells stories about eating the giant strawberries in the field the first summer she moved to Oregon with my dad.  'I ate more than I bought and by July I didn't want to see another strawberry.  ... until next summer.'

My mom makes an amazing strawberry pie, but we're planning on makes a couple batches of strawberry jam for family and friends as part of their Christmas present.  If the stars align and I'm able to film it, I'll make a vlog about canning your own jam.

Anyway, I digress.

I've been excited to take MY daughter strawberry picking and today was the day.  Since it's the 4th of July weekend, I dressed her in a patriotic outfit with her (clearance bin) Gymboree strawberry socks that I was so excited to find.  I brought my giant white tupperware bowl (with hot pink lid - eee!!) as a nod to my childhood and away we went.

Hannah started eating the berries before I had even picked a handful, but when it was all said and done, I think she ate more dirt than actual produce.  If I did it again I would have gone earlier in the morning before it got quite so warm and I would have brought a wet and slightly soapy washcloth in a ziplock bag.  We cleaned her up with wet wipes, but there was a lot of dirt and strawberry stains on her legs and fingers.  I'm glad we had already planned to go directly home for bath and nap time as she desperately needed both after all the excitement.

To find a you pick farm near you (even for crops other thatn strawberries!) check out 

http://www.pickyourown.org/  

That's where we found this farm.   Visitors leave feed back and comments so you know what to expect.