Our kids have been looking forward to this day since they picked their last apple in October. One evening this week we headed out to pick “just a few” and ended up coming home with 20 quarts!
Picking is so abundant and the berries are a great size.
It was our one-year-old’s first experience picking strawberries. When she realized there was an unlimited supply of her favorite treat, her excitement exploded and she began toddling up and down the rows picking berries at various degrees of ripeness.
As she sampled each one she gave her enthusiastic stamp of approval by proclaiming, “Yum!”
I disagree with her. I like mine red.
The berries are plentiful, large, and juicy sweet this year, since our fields are new.
We frequently get asked what we do with so many strawberries. The answer: we love to freeze them! We use them in smoothies, which is a great way to get each kid a serving of fruit and veggies before we head out the door. Even our pickiest eaters love smoothies.
Here is a quick and easy basic smoothie recipe that satisfies four children:
PrintStrawberry and Veggie Smoothie
Ingredients
- 2 bananas
- 2 cups of strawberries
- 1 cup of kale/ or spinach (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup Fiddle Creek Dairy Swiss style yogurt (or coconut milk)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Blend it all together. If you need more liquid, add more yogurt or some milk to top it off. (If you have extra, pour into popsicle molds for an extra yummy treat on a hot day.)
This last week has been a little wet in our neck of the woods, and I’m afraid that the weather has scared some of our best pickers away! So I wanted to update all our readers on our field conditions! It is a bit wet; however, we were prepared to handle this mud and we wanted to let everyone know that Justin ordered in a fresh load of wood chips which we’ve laid down in the muddiest places and have “bridges” set up over the puddles. Our oldest wanted to demonstrate the great bridges in the patch this year.
Before we went out I dressed up our kiddos in old clothes, preparing for the worst. But I was pleasantly surprised–at the end of a strawberry picking adventure our kids actually just had to kick off their boots at the front door when we finished up our picking. I can handle that!
So be encouraged, conditions are great for picking. The strawberries are plentiful and sweet. We hope everyone can make it out to enjoy this bountiful harvest! Hope to see all your beautiful families this week out in the strawberry patch!
