Strawberry Picking

Each year I go strawberry picking and each year I think, why am I not just buying these beautiful berries from a road-side stand instead? With that said, picking with small on.es has become easier and it was a gorgeous day to be outside enjoying the beauty of the earth.

Cheeks, while not super productive, was by far the more consistent picker. Her face, hands and pants all testify to the work she did as wee strawberry picker.

This is the only picture I have of Boy Howdy's efforts. I think it perfectly captures his work ethic for the day. I told him that if he could fill his box I would give him 3 whole quarters, but his 10 strawberries did not merit much. I think I gave him one quarter more as a thanks for coming than anything else.

After making two strawberry pies, that were amazing!!, I decided to make strawberry sauce with the remaining berries. The kids' job was the smashing of the strawberries, which I thought they did pretty admirably. Although at one point they pulled out their silly straw and started taking turns drinking the juice. 

Yeah, it was a lot of strawberries and I probably should have done it in batches but I am happy to now have 15 pints of strawberry sauce for all my waffle, brownie and ice cream needs.

P.S. Boy Howdy got another $1 for his work in mashing strawberries and cleaning the floor. It was a lot of work.

Edit. We also went cherry and blueberry picking. The kids were a bit more productive this time. It may have been due to the plentiful fruit to be had at very easy heights. We may be going back to pick more fruit. I may still miss Pennsylvania like crazy, but I am LOVING having access to cherries for $1.50/lb!!!