Back to Basics: Strawberry Picking | Nourished With Tish

When I was a young teenager, my dad used to live on a small piece of property in the country. His backyard was filled with wild raspberries, a blackberry bush, rhubarb, his vegetable garden and a few trees that held plums, chestnuts and crab apples. On the weekends he’d urge us to go outside and get fresh air–which I think was our cue to move our bodies and get off our butts. So naturally, we would all sit around the raspberry bush and stuff our faces.

That was my last experience picking my own berries, and that was almost ten years ago. So yesterday, when Allie and I went to the very picturesque Fruition Farms, I felt much like a kid again, ready to get my eat on. I got a little too excited and shot around like a tourist taking pictures of all the pretty things–of which, to the berry farm’s credit, there were many.

It was a beautiful day to be outside and a beautiful chance to remember that food doesn’t grow on grocery store shelves. It grows outside, in the sun, until it’s ripe and ready to eat. Who knew?

I’ve never seen so many strawberries in my life.

Allie picked the berries while I did the (way, way harder) job of taking pictures to remember this day. Allie, you’re welcome.

I learnt that sometimes competition for the best berries was thick. As you can see above, both us and this little guy wanted the berry. After a show of great strength and dominance–really, a battle of sheer will and determination–Mr. Caterpillar got to keep his berry. Allie and I searched on for new fruits, our tails between our legs.

Despite our troubles, we did not leave empty handed. (Neither did our bellies–I am still unsure if you’re allowed to do that, but since no one said otherwise, I feel like it must be expected). At the end, we paid for our basket of goodies, and the woman who rang us through–and was perhaps annoyed at my camera in her face–suggested we take pictures of the nearby apple tree, that was turned into a lovely home for the local fairies.