Berry Picking!

This weekend I had a mission, pick strawberries! We were having a family party down at my grandparent's and my mom wanted me to bring fresh strawberries.  I was given this task since my boyfriends mother works at a local farm in our area.  Now we have been dating over two years and for over two years I have been telling him to take me berry picking.  He has gotten berries from the farm many times, but the best part of the farm is that you can go and pick your own berries if you want to.  Now for him this is something he has done all his life and sees it as a chore rather than a fun activity.  He likes to tell me how it was used as punishment when he was a child, and he would have to pick berries in his grandparents garden.  Well I wasn't giving up! This weekend was perfect, It was beautiful out & I had my friend visiting. I held strong and we finally ended up getting him to bring us to the farm. 

Now we had made it to the farm! but my boyfriend still looked like he was being tortured and tried to encourage us to purchase the fresh fruits that were already picked and ready for purchase.  I had made it this far and I was not giving up! We waited a few minutes and boarded the truck that takes you to the fields. At the time of our visit the strawberry and raspberry season was just finishing up and the blueberry season was starting.  You could pick whatever you wanted and as much as you wanted. I was in heaven.  I thought it was so cool to be picking my own foods, knowing exactly where they came from & picking only the ones i wanted to eat.

We started with strawberry's, they grow very low to the ground so you have to bend over or crouch down to pick them.  I didn't care I was loving it! My friend and I took the cardboard box we were given and went to town.  There were plenty for us to choose but it was also the end of the season so you had to search out the good ones. 

 With a little advice from my boyfriend (about going further down into the field since most people start at the top) we were off.  At first my boyfriend stayed up where I had dropped my purse at the start of the strawberry field, but soon enough he was right there with us picking strawberry's and showing us how to do it.  Because they grow right on the dirt they aren't as clean so we only tasted one or two as we went ;)

Next we hit the raspberry field and quickly started to search out ripe red raspberries.  It was a little harder to find them at first since the area we started in had been thoroughly picked through.  Finally though we found out if we look inside the bushes there were lots of ripe berries left to be picked. 

Those were more fun to pick because you just walked along side the bushes and easily popped off the ripe berries, plus it was easier to pop them in your mouth as you went along ;).  Plus I must add my boyfriend was enjoying himself so much trying to find the best ones, we lost him, though quickly located him.

On the way back to the front of the farm we stopped to pick up people who were collecting blueberries, I'm not a big fan of blueberries so we didn't pick any, plus my friend was dying from the heat.  I was still in heaven!  When we got back we paid for our berries which was about $9.00.  Not bad at all for fresh local picked berries, much cheaper than the grocery store! We also bought a frozen strawberry Rhubarb pie that my boyfriends mom makes for the farm to bring down to my family as well.

On Sunday everyone loved the fresh berries and the pie! It was a great end to the wonderful lobster lunch.  I for one who never really eats pie loved it! It tasted like a fruit roll-up.  I can't wait to go back! I will either have to bring a friend with me or give my boyfriend a little time in between our next visit. 

The farm we visited was Rose's Berry Farm in Glastonbury, CT you can visit their site HERE

If you are not in the area I also found a great web site to help you find places to pick local produce in your area Here

It's a lot of fun!