For the past four or five years, we have gone berry picking with my Mom during the summer. There is this great farm which is about twenty minutes from her house and has a lot more to offer besides the berries. Remlinger Farms has a lot of different berries that you can pick. You have to check the season to see which berries are ripe and ready to harvest! We wanted to pick raspberries because we wanted to make raspberry jam. It tastes so much better than the jam you buy at the store. And did I mention that the berries are so much less expensive if you pick them yourself? We were ready to go- the only problem was that it was the tale end of the raspberry picking season so we were worried that there wouldn't be much left to pick!
On the ride to the farm, Matthew fell asleep so my Mom took Michael and Claire out in the field to start picking. When Matthew woke up, we tried to find them. After calling their names over and over for about fifteen minutes and yelling 'yooooo hooooo' in the hot scorching sun- I had about had it. Matthew kept wanting to pick the berries (I can't blame him) and it was no easy task carrying his big stocky body in my arms down row after endless row of raspberries. Finally, we found them in the back right corner of the giant field. I was relieved but also 'just about done' as the last fifteen minutes were enough to push me over the edge! My Mom, Michael, and Claire had picked quite a few berries!! I love watching the kids search the rows for what they think is the perfect berry. I also love seeing them freak out when they mistakenly touch a spider or its web (there are a lot of spiders). They had so much fun! After about twenty more minutes of picking, I think Matthew had eaten at least a half pound of raspberries off of the vine (I was sure he was going to get diarrhea that night) and Michael and Claire were slowly succumbing to the heat. We had picked enough for jam and we decided to be done and head to the car for some serious air conditioning!
I love that we have established this tradition of berry picking. It really isn't hard to pick the berries or make the jam. Plus- on top of that, the kids learn a valuable lesson about using the resources around them and then they get to enjoy the fruits of their labor every time they have PB&J or jam on toast. My Mom and I each have enough jam to last us through the coming year and will run out just in time to make some more!
For the past four or five years, we have gone berry picking with my Mom during the summer. There is this great farm which is about twenty minutes from her house and has a lot more to offer besides the berries. Remlinger Farms has a lot of different berries that you can pick. You have to check the season to see which berries are ripe and ready to harvest! We wanted to pick raspberries because we wanted to make raspberry jam. It tastes so much better than the jam you buy at the store. And did I mention that the berries are so much less expensive if you pick them yourself? We were ready to go- the only problem was that it was the tale end of the raspberry picking season so we were worried that there wouldn't be much left to pick!
On the ride to the farm, Matthew fell asleep so my Mom took Michael and Claire out in the field to start picking. When Matthew woke up, we tried to find them. After calling their names over and over for about fifteen minutes and yelling 'yooooo hooooo' in the hot scorching sun- I had about had it. Matthew kept wanting to pick the berries (I can't blame him) and it was no easy task carrying his big stocky body in my arms down row after endless row of raspberries. Finally, we found them in the back right corner of the giant field. I was relieved but also 'just about done' as the last fifteen minutes were enough to push me over the edge! My Mom, Michael, and Claire had picked quite a few berries!! I love watching the kids search the rows for what they think is the perfect berry. I also love seeing them freak out when they mistakenly touch a spider or its web (there are a lot of spiders). They had so much fun! After about twenty more minutes of picking, I think Matthew had eaten at least a half pound of raspberries off of the vine (I was sure he was going to get diarrhea that night) and Michael and Claire were slowly succumbing to the heat. We had picked enough for jam and we decided to be done and head to the car for some serious air conditioning! 
I love that we have established this tradition of berry picking. It really isn't hard to pick the berries or make the jam. Plus- on top of that, the kids learn a valuable lesson about using the resources around them and then they get to enjoy the fruits of their labor every time they have PB&J or jam on toast. My Mom and I each have enough jam to last us through the coming year and will run out just in time to make some more!
1 comment:
I can hardly wait for next year!
Love,
Nonna/Mom
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