Berry Picking

  

I have no memory of doing this as a kid (though, it's very possible it happened), but I've always wanted to go berry picking at a U-pick. We had raspberry bushes in our yard growing up and I always enjoyed picking them (and eating them!). My current raspberries are just a couple of years old and have not yet produced. And I LOVE all kinds of berries.

 

I was determined that at some point this summer we would go berry picking as a family. I searched out a farm close by and waited for their fruit to get ripe. This farm was a saskatoon berry farm. I LOVE saskatoons. Which is funny, because my mom used to make saskatoon berry pies when I was a kid. I didn't like them; I just wanted pumpkin (I think I thought they should taste like blueberries). Now all I want to do is make a pie! (and don't worry, I still like pumpkin!).

 

After church yesterday morning we loaded up the kids and drove the 45 minutes out of town to the farm. It was HUGE! I asked how long they had been around. They've only been a U-pick for 3 years and their oldest trees are only 8 years. I would have thought (judging by my pathetic raspberries) that it would take much longer to build up a U-pick farm.

We spent about an hour picking berries. Mark and Mady shared a pail and I had my own. Kate sat in the stroller for most of the time and ate berries that Mady brought to her.

In the end I picked about 3.72 pounds and Mark and Mady picked 2.24 pounds. I bugged them about their slowness, but on the way home Mark happened to remark that he ate a lot of berries. Hopefully not a full pound! Ha!

We've decided this is something we need to do every August. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Next year we'll have two mini-pickers.

 

We enjoyed some with ice cream last night. Both girls chose to forgo the ice cream to just have berries! That's sayin' something!

The rest I'm freezing and making into pies. Yum!

 

And here's Mady watching her berries getting weighed. She wanted to carry them, but without the handle of the pail they were too heavy. Every time I pull some out she reminds me that those ones are hers. :)

 

Did you do anything fun this weekend to use up the last of summer?