berry pickin'

Its that time of year again. Hot days and stormy nights and... no wait, that sounds like a bad romance novel. What I mean to say is that its Strawberry Season. I love picking berries almost as much as I love eating berries. And thanks to my Mom's kind help, I was able to get out to the patch with the two little boys in tow. I was somewhat reluctant to even bother this year, as the Baby is at such a, er, fun stage, what with all the walking and climbing and running and exploring and putting stuff into his mouth. It seemed like berry picking would not be in the cards this year. But my Mom offered to come along and Baby wrangle so that I could pick. Or rather, click, because I mostly took pictures.  Here's Mr. Baby all sunscreened, hatted and bespectacled. I call this his "Woody Allen incognito" look. Also, note that his shirt is still clean. And that he has a leaf in his hands. The reason is that he has not yet figured out that there are berries on those bushes. Or as he calls them "bluh bluh". He was just busily chirping and ripping leaves off plants until I showed him this.

Look Baby, see what's under those leaves.

Nom. aaaaand, he was off and eating. 

And eating.

And eating. Seriously, every other picture I snapped of him features him cramming a berry into his mouth. 

The Little Dude, on the other hand, was Mr. Industrious. He was so happy to have his own little basket and to be picking berries all by himself. (Although as you can see from this picture, his accuracy at determining ripeness was a little off) And he hardly ate any, and when he did he was always keen to share. The first bite would be for him and then GranGran or I were kindly offered the other half. 

And he was so excited to run and show us the "beautiful, djuicy red one" he'd just found before he triumphantly plopped it in his basket. Note the Baby, barely having moved, just chomping his way through whatever he could find, and/or steal from GranGran's basket. It was quite funny, the contrast in their style. 

GranGran really was a hero, managing to keep the Baby under control, harness the Little Dude's enthusiasm and still pick a ton of berries herself. 

I'd forgotton how messy it gets in the berry patch. I'd taken the precaution of putting everyone in dark pants, but that shirt just got obliterated. And you should have seen my Mom's shirt by the time the Baby was done hugging/climbing/getting carried by her. Her wardrobe suffered a great deal of collateral damage.

The Little Dude really did a credible job of picking. We topped up his basket of course, but I can see that next year he's going to be an even better helper. Maybe he'll work his way up to that dream career in farming he's been telling us about lately.

But in the end, even greater than the reward of a basket full of berries or a Grandmother full of praise was a ride in this baby. The girl who was monitoring the fields was driving to and from the berry shed in this fancy souped up little golf cart. And every time she zoomed by, chauffeuring and elderly customer with too many baskets to carry, back to the weigh and pay counter, the Little Dude would be all eyes. He wondered wistfully if every one with full baskets got a ride. So when it was our turn to leave the fields, she was kind enough to give a lady with a couple of babies a lift. Its hard to tell from this picture, but L.D. really was chuffed. 

We had three baskets full when we were all done, and my Mom went the extra mile of having the Little Dude over to her house to play while the Baby napped and I spent my time....

Making jam! I gave myself a break this year and did freezer jam instead of cooked jam. Lots less work, no cooking and less sugar too. Its a win/win. And we had a small chest freezer given to us by a friend of my aunts who was downsizing, so I've got plenty of space to keep it in. I made two batches, which turned out to be three (due to some small, curse-inducing miscalculations. ahem) so its a good thing we have that freezer. Anyhow, the jam literally made the Little Dude jump for joy the first time he had it, which is the best sort of food compliment you can get from a pre-schooler. Warms a mother's heart I tell you. 

 

 

Comments

[michele]

Strawberries don't seem to be doing that great this year in michigan but we do go blueberry picking every year.The pics of your baby remind me so much of my girls, we always just push our youngest(in a stroller) right up to a bush and just let her eat away! It's really the only way we get to pick any!