Berry Picking

[amelia88]

I'm planning to go berry picking on Tuesday, with my little one! There's a place about a 45 minute drive from where I live that has loads of delicious strawberries in season right now, and I just love the experience of getting to pick the fruit fresh! Plus, I think it's a fun activity for kids, too!

Have you ever been berry picking? What's your favorite berry?

 

[toradrake]

I'm originally from a small town in Georgia and one of the greatest things about the area I lived is there was no shortage of wild berries. Blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, gooseberries, etc. Myself and several of my friends when we were kids would just run around and look for these berries and pick them. We were smart enough though to take them home to my mom who could tell what kind of berries we had to make certain we did not get any poisonous ones.

 

[Durgan]

Strawberries usually have to be picked on hands and knees to ease the strain if one is picking any large amount. I have found knee pads are absolutely wonderful. I use them often in the garden for in row weeding.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SQDEZ 24 September 2007 Knee Pads with Flexible Joint
Knee pads are indispensable in the garden. For years the pads sold were almost useless, since they always slipped down the leg in use. This type depicted does not slip, due to the accordion type flex at the top. These are readily available in most box hardware stores in the tools section.

 

[Trellum]

I love picking berries I haven't done it myself, but a friend of mine who lives in Finland has done that several times already with her little one I'd love to do the same when I have a little one as well

 

[claudine]

Sounds wonderful Amelia
I grow wild strawberries on my windowsill, so I can pick them whenever I want to

 

[steve bossie]

when i was a kid our summers were divided into what wild berries were ripe. in early july it was strawberries then raspberries, and then blueberries. it took a lot of picking because wild berries are small but the flavor was better than any garden variety than you can grow. the whole family went out for the day w/ lunches in tow. miss those days!

 

[IcyBC]

I went picking blueberries with my children once in the wild nature, and we got bitten up by mosquitoes. Not fun, and not much blueberries were picked. I would rather go to the farm for this

Have fun with your little one strawberries picking and eating!

 

[steve bossie]

we used plenty of bug dope. we were pretty poor so we had to bring home what we could. the garden berries weren't available back then so we got what we needed from the land. the horseflies were the worst! we also picked fiddleheads, hazelnuts, beechnuts and had a 1 acre garden that the whole family worked in. i swear that garden grew more rocks every year! lol!

 

[Corzhens]

This reminds me of our small mulberry farm (it's actually a grove) that are already fruiting. My husband's nephews and nieces are fond of picking those mulberries and probably we are going to invite them this coming weekend. It's hard to believe that they would travel 6 hours just to experience picking those berries which they so love specially the ripe ones that are blue, they are very sweet.

 

[atlmom5]

Oh I love picking berries!! When I was a kid growing up in North Carolina I remember we used to pick blackberries in these woods. My grandparents also had a farm so, and my grandparents used to grow strawberries and I remember my cousins and I use to sit in the fields and eat them. We also did that during watermelon season too!!! A few years ago I took my kids to pick strawberries for the first time and they loved it!! Every year they can't wait to go back to fill up their buckets with plump, juicy, sweet strawberries. So, hopefully we'll make it out to pick strawberries again this year. I'm loving the fact that my kids are embracing nature, in fact we found some blackberries growing in our neighborhood and got a nice stash of them over the summer. Hope you have a great time picking berries and don't forget to take some pictures to share with us.

 

[steve bossie]

i just purchased a primocane thornless blackberry variety called prime ark freedom. it puts out blackberries on 1st. year growth. I've never been able to grow blackberries in n. maine as its usually too cold but if i cut them to the ground every fall and mulch them well they will come up each year and survive the cold. I'm really excited as i love blackberries!