Strawberry Picking, Anyone?

There is nothing like knowing where your food comes from or the gratifying feeling of picking it yourself (at least for me, my boss would say “I’d rather buy it or have it delivered). But I just love picking strawberries! This annual May ritual has evolved and changed a bit over the years but it’s still fun all the same.

Once upon a time the experience was one of rural country farms, rows upon rows of wirery strawberry plants, aisles covered with straw and smashed berries from the last pickers that had been by. You and your Mom in floppy hats and some trusty buckets you brought from home. The task was fun as we rooted through the thick plants to find the “perfect” berries (sampling every other one to make sure they are just right).

Jeans stained with green and red juices were merely just to price one paid for this natural experience of being a treasure hunter searching for the bounty of ruby red treasure to be put in the freezer and enjoyed well into winter when summer days are just a memory.

But now here in 2010 the experience has changed ever so slightly but just as much fun and the bounty just as delicious. We will be heading to Scott’s Strawberry Farm in Bedford County this Friday (5234 Joppa Mill Rd Moneta Virginia) for the first pick of the year.

This wonderful little berry farm, has very much the experience from my childhood, not as rural and much more a structured experience but very memorable all the same. The rows are much more groomed in this modern agriculture, the process more prearranged. The farmers obviously thought through this “picking process” for efficiency for them and for the picker. Upon arrival you “check in” with the friendly farm greeter. You are given several small flags, containers for the berries, and then you are walked out to your “picking location.”