Slim Pickings: Visser’s Farm Strawberry U-Pick

I am sooo excited to share some recent sessions with you later this week, but here’s my recent adventure with Sam.

A week or two ago, I was inspired by my friend’s commitment to go strawberry picking so she could feed her family strawberry jam, strawberries, syrup for the year… She picked 178 lbs. Let that sink in. 178 lbs. So, little ole’ inspired me decided that what better way to embrace eating local produce than to take Samuel to go strawberry picking. We arrive at Visser’s Farm. I still laugh when I remember how I took a flat of containers with the ambition to fill 8-10 quarts worth.

The first 10 minutes went pretty well. Once my friend April and I found a row to pick, we started looking for strawberries worthy of our time. Samuel and April’s daughter Gwen kicked and talked happily in their respective strollers. It was probably around the 11th minute (or was it the 9th?) that Samuel started fussing a bit. At this point, I started taking frequent breaks to give him another toy while trying to continue adding to my ‘progress.’ Around a quart’s worth, the flat I was carrying fell and my strawberries toppled everywhere.

I re-gathered them while hearing Samuel’s fussiness continue.

Around a quart and a half, Samuel was close to inconsolable. If you know my son, you know it takes a lot to get him there. I picked him up and laid him in the middle of the strawberry rows. He wanted to crawl around for a while in the dirt which may have bought me another quart’s worth were it not for the hot sun shining down on his fair, fair skin. Re-thinking this decision, I scooped him back up and put him back under the shade of the stroller. I tried to talk with him and sing to him while I picked a few more – but he wasn’t buying it. He started crying quite loudly. I looked around to see families (with much older children) picking strawberries and taking pictures. I calculated how much I would save if I picked x amount of strawberries. 50% off to pick them myself @ 8 quarts = $16 of savings. But then I remembered the gas to drive out there = extra cost of $6 (?) + stress + time.

With a deep sigh of hesitation, I said goodbye to April and Gwen and began pushing the stroller down the row of the strawberries toward the car. As I paid for my quart and a half of strawberries $3.50!!) the kind young woman offered to sell me the strawberries she had just picked at their price. I left with 8 quarts of strawberries for $23.50. While it cost me a few extra dollars, I was driving away with a screaming son (who I realized was hungry – poor kid) and plenty of strawberries and enough patience left to look for a church parking lot where I could feed Samuel.

Here was Samuel’s face after he ate: