One morning this week, my kids and I drove up to a local farm to pick our own strawberries. The knowledge of where our food comes from is important to me for my kids to know. I don't want them thinking the grocery store is where food is made but rather I want them to experience the farm and all of it's quirky goodness.
We decided to ask my mom to join us. She was having a "good" day (she has MS) and was excited to go berry picking. My kids love every moment they spend with her. They were so excited to have this experience with my mom.
We drove the 15 minutes to "the farm", gathered our strawberry boxes and waited for the next shuttle. I think my kids favorite part was riding the shuttle. This consisted of two park benches, back to back, on a flatbed being pulled by a camoflaged golf cart. They thought it was AWESOME! And the farm lives up to "quirky goodness".
The shuttle dropped us off at the patch and we started the hunt. I was hoping to fill both my boxes and have my kids fill their boxes. You know where this is going? Well I started gleefully picking my strawberries. It was kind of hot out there, but the intermittent light rain was really perfect. There was a slight breeze to accompany the light rain. I looked over to where my kids were crowding my mom to see my mom laughing so hard I thought she was going to fall over. My daughter kept picking the strawberries and then she'd say, "Grammy! Here's a good one. I think I'll eat it." And so this ensued the entire picking time. Needless to say, her basket ended up with about 3 strawberries while her belly probably had a good quart of them.
By the end of the picking session, I walked away with about two and a half baskets full of strawberries. With those, I made strawberry preserves. My kids and husband go through a ton of jelly. I figured I'd make it cheaper on us. The entire lot of strawberries came to about $25. The pectin, which I didn't have, came to about $12, but I got coupons in the boxes. I had the canning jars and lids and everything else needed. So for about $40, I was able to make 16 and a 1/2 pints of preserves/jam. Not bad for a day of work.
The thing that struck me most about "the farm" is that it used to be in the middle of the country. But as always, suburbia keeps growing. Kudos to the farm for keeping it's land and continuing to function as a farm. But also for growing into the role that it now plays, which is a farm but also market, tea party hostess, gift shop, garden center, wine shop and bakery all in one.
From high atop the hillside I looked down past all of the buildings to see the farms other fields full of bounty and bordered by a shopping plaza. Behind me I heard the roar of the trucks and cars on one of the busiest highways in all of Pittsburgh. I thought about this small piece of heaven in the middle of all the commotion. Life stops for no one and yet this farm knows how to stop time amid the hustle and bustle of modern day life. Again, kudos to them.
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