Strawberry Pickin'

These are a few weeks old...Taken when it wasn't 92 degrees by 10am.  Taken when Woody was out of town for the second week that month and we needed exciting activity.  We did go out early in the morning.  Seems like all good farmin' gets done in the morning, doesn't it? 

Reid's is just a staple in our community.  Their strawberries were perfect this year.  Lots and lots of them. The perfect size and perfectly ripe.  It was also a beautiful day.  Just lots of good memories from this trip.

Farmer Hope is getting more and more independent.  She took her basket and told me she was going to her own "field" and that I should stay in mine.

She really did great at picking and not eating until near the end...she saw an older lady just chowing down.  That's when she decided to try one.  When she asked permission, the older lady was totally in earshot so I didn't want to say "No, we have to pay for these first."   That would be awkward, so I just let her eat.  For the record, I did confess when we had our basket weighed and tried to pay for our eaten crop, but they wouldn't take my money and even gave me a free pass to Reidland!  Honesty is the best policy!

After the first bite, she sat down and totally chowed down.  No more pickin for Farmer Hope.  I'm glad she got her fill of the sun ripened vitamin C rich berries out there because once we got them home and washed she refused to eat any.  "They get sour after you wash them," she declared.

Now, in the Reid's store, a basket like this would cost around $20, but if you pick yourself it's much cheaper.  We only payed about $7.50.  What to do with them all?  We made strawberry pie, strawberry ice cream and I put them in/on everything. We get our jam from Grammy so I didn't do that, but I am going to have to find more things to do with berries next year. They were awesome!