A few of our local farms have FINALLY opened up their fields for the first u-pick of the season!

After a long winter of eating fruits and vegetables grown thousands of miles from my home, my family and I have been eagerly awaiting the local crops. My children (3 and 6) have been asking ALL WINTER when were we going to go "picking" again?

I can finally answer them...TOMORROW!

Why I Love Pick-Your-Own Farms

Growing up, I did not go to the local farms to pick my own produce. I'm not sure if my parents weren't interested or if u-pick farms weren't available where I grew up. Instead, we frequented many road-side farm stands and met some of the nicest people there.

It was at these farm stands that I started to appreciate the small farmers and the wonderfully tasty produce they grew.

As an adult, I continued to seek out the small farm stands. I believe it is important to support your local farms and not only the big ones, but the little ones as well. I frequently stopped on a Thursday or Friday evening and picked up fresh items for the weekend. What a delicious treat!

Then, I had children.

Children are sponges, they absorb as much information as you expose them too. If you show interest and enthusiasm in something, odds are your children will be interested and want to learn about it too.

When my daughter was 3, she started asking how food grew. I remember sitting down with her at a very young age and showing her grape vines, cherry trees, and apple blossoms online and explaining the progression from flower to fruit.

She was fascinated.

It seemed only natural that I should show her, first hand, these plants and let her experience everything herself. I began searching the internet for local pick-your-own farms. It was difficult to locate them at first; I could only find the highly commercial ones (which are all overpriced).

I then found a website that had everything I needed to know about picking - directories of u-pick farms around the country, what produce each farm allowed you to pick, addresses and phone numbers, instructions on how to properly pick the produce, and steps on how to preserve it. Everything I needed was right at my fingertips to teach my children about the farms and also how to preserve my harvest.

A Picking We Will Go

This is our third year of picking fruit. We have tried many local farms and have found a few favorites. I now have four farms that I frequent within a ten mile radius of my house. My daughter loves to find the most ripe and beautiful of fruits. My son enjoys eating as much of the fruit as I will allow - and frequently sneaks in a few more after I've asked him to stop!

Strawberries are always the first to ripen in our area, and the fields opened last week. We went out late one evening and picked two pounds before Mother's Day - just enough for strawberry shortcake, strawberries to top our waffles Mother's Day morning, and a handful to eat fresh from the fridge.

Tomorrow, we will be picking 8-10 pounds if I have my way. We are almost out of strawberry jam from last year's crop and I need to make more.

My children are thrilled to be heading into the fields tomorrow. We will pack a picnic lunch and enjoy the beautiful weather.

But the most important thing we will do is FAMILY BONDING. Spending time in the field with your children - sharing nature, discussing the farm and its importance in our lives, and dreaming of what wonderful things you will create together with your harvest is precious time spent with your family.

I, for one, wouldn't miss it for the world!

UPDATE:

We picked 14 pounds of strawberries on Friday. Six pints of strawberry jam were canned and I also froze around 100 strawberries for smoothies and to eat frozen on hot summer days.

I have added two strawberry jam recipes to my website and will add a strawberry freezer jam recipe after our next strawberry picking adventure as I'm out of strawberries for the tutorial pictures!

I will also be adding a tips section for picking, cleaning, and freezing strawberries as well as a recipe section for the fresh strawberries. I hope to become a one stop shop for everything you need to know to take deliciously fresh strawberries from the field and onto your table. So, please check back for more great information on strawberries and other u-pick fruits throughout the summer.

Preserving this fruit for my food storage has been easy (and delicious), and now more than ever we need to support our local farmers to keep our local food supply prosperous. Not to mention, this is a great family activity: bonding, sunshine, and education all rolled into a fun day in the dirt!

I encourage all of you to follow my lead and save some of this delicious, in season food for future consumption. You will be glad you did!