Strawberry picking

On a complete whim this morning, I decided to take the kids strawberry picking.

With all the farmers markets on city property temporarily shut down because of the strike and our local groceries stores -- as usual -- doing a poor job of stocking local produce, I decided I really wanted some local strawberries before the strawberry season ended.

So, we headed out to Whittamore's Farm, which is only 20 minutes from our house, but so completely in the middle of nowhere that you don't realize how close to home you are. I brought some Ziplock containers with us, because I figured the small containers would be easier than the buckets the farm sells you. And I could also cover them when we were done for easier transportation while holding hands with two kids.

And the kids loved picking berries.

Austin was very serious the whole time, making sure each one was perfect and informing me every time he found a mushy one. Eventually, he filled his container (with a little help from me).
Alexandra on the other hand, picked one off the bush and put it in the container before realizing that it was a strawberry. The second one she picked whet right into her mouth. As did the third one. By the fourth one, she realized that rather than going to all the work of picking them off the bush just to eat them, it was far easier to simply take the ones from the container that I had already picked. And eat them.
So Austin and I spent about 30 minutes or so picking berries and Alex spent those same 30 minutes eating berries, regardless of how many times I tried to stop her.

You have to pay for your strawberries by weight when you leave -- it's a good thing they don't weigh your kids on the way in and then again on the way out!