Thursday, July 03, 2008

A berry good day

My dad has a reputation in our family for his sweet tooth, and no dessert makes him happier than my mom's homemade shortcake smothered in juicy strawberies fresh from a local farm here in Wisconsin. We all love it, truth be told, so this morning Mom, the girls and I went to pick some berries in anticipation of having shortcake after dinner.

The girls had never picked strawberries, so this was a new and fun experience for them. We went to Jolivette Family Farms, best known in the area for berries, sweet corn, and its pumpkin patch. The weather was gorgeous—sunny and 70 degrees with low humidity—which was perfect for being in the field.

I'm not sure how long we picked, but Mom and I appreciated the girls' help; I think it's a lot easier to pick for kids who are naturally closer to the ground! They really enjoyed finding the biggest berries and those that had grown into "triple berries." A nice lady a few rows over even found a "quintuple strawberry" whose five berry sections looked like flower petals, and she gave it to Erin and Lauren.

Once we'd each filled our flats about halfway we decided to head in. I think the girls would have picked longer, but they didn't have to clean all the berries! We rode back to the roadside stand on a big wagon behind a tractor. Then the girls helped Mom and I get our berries on the belt to be weighed; I don't know how many pounds we picked, but I do know that it took us a long time to clean them, and my nails are still a bit stained with berry juice.

We made shortcake after supper tonight and oh, was it good! There are lots of berries left (bunches of them in the freezer) and we'll have shortcake again tomorrow, too. Dad's not the only one happy about dessert!

2 comments:

Shelli said...

Your dad is a very wise man. Glad you made it home safely. Enjoy every minute; I know you will.

Anonymous said...

How fun, I miss picking. :)

Enjoy your berries!!!