Monday, April 26, 2010

It's Pickin' Time



Cade, Gracyn and I headed out early

this morning for a new adventure.

After meeting up with friends at our church,
we hit the road south toward the hill country!
Our destination... Marble Falls,
to visit the
Sweet Berry Farm's Strawberry fields.
The drive down was peaceful.
Beautiful flowers in bloom everywhere you looked and
Lightening McQueen playing in the background :)

Upon arrival we were promptly outfitted with our baskets
and headed to an open field.



The strawberries were overflowing to put it mildly!!!
The sweet scent of fresh fruit filled the air and
the butterflies were abundant among the fields.



Cade struck out on his own and our friend, Miss Julie made sure
he stayed out of the mud!
She overheard Cade saying to himself ,
"I am REALLY GOOD at picking strawberries"

apparently we have no self-esteem issues!

The strawberries themselves were gorgeous!

Plump,
perfectly Ripe,
and Ready for Picking...



While I was helping Gracyn with her basket,

Cade was determined to pick his entire row clean!

I think he picked every strawberry for a quarter mile...


Check out the basket on this guy,



AND

that satisfied smile!

This is an active farm, with horses, goats, and donkeys!


Gracyn liked the horses the best of all,

she even fed them some of her strawberries...shhhh don't tell anyone!


Some of our little LaDiEs


{ L-to-R: Landry, Gracyn, Hannah, Bethany, & Bella}


After laboring in the strawberry fields we treated ourselves to some of the farm's homemade ice cream.





Cade chose vanilla {no big surprise there}, but Gracyn tried their Berry, Berry Ice Cream which was out of this world delicious.
It's a combination of strawberry and blackberry ice cream.
It was seriously the best fresh fruit ice cream I have ever eaten,
and apparently the best Gracyn has ever eaten too b/c I had to pry her grubby fingers away from the plastic cup for the 2 meager bites I did ingest!


Here she is in all her ice cream glory with strawberry pulp on her tooth!


Hilarious

While we were walking back I asked Cade if he'd
had a good time and he replied,


"THAT WAS A BLAST, MOM"


Check out the weights of my two pickers...



Yes sir-eee, that's no joke.


Gracie picked 4 lbs

&

Cade single handedly picked 6 POUNDS of strawberries!!!


Our immediate future includes:

- strawberry pie for dessert tonight

- strawberry preserves

- smoothies for breakfast tomorrow

I plan on sharing the recipe and photos of our luscious strawberry pie!

I guess if kids are going to pick something,

I'd much rather it be strawberries :)

7 comments:

Rebecca said...

How fun!! I will definitely have to make a trip down there with Kylee. I just bought Kylee those shorts that Gracyn is wearing. We will have to dress them the same one day!!

bookworm said...

My mom's strawberry bread is one of our favorite things to make with fresh picked strawberries. Here is the recipe if you want to try it!
Strawberry Bread
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/8 cup oil
4 eggs
2 ½ cups fresh strawberries, sugared and mashed
Mix together and pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Ashley said...

oh how fun!!! i am looking for a strawberry farm right now as we speak! we must find one after looking at your great pics!

Jennifer said...

That looks like it's right up my alley! I can't wait to take the family out there...in the words of Cade...it (looks like) a blast! The kids look like they had fun and sure made a great memory!

Grandpop said...

Becky,
Great pics, I am sure and also very glad they had a fantastic time!!
Love,
G-Pop

Patti said...

This looks like a fantastic FARM!!! I'm glad you all had a wonderful time picking strawberries and eating ice cream!!! You can't beat that for a fun filled day!
Love,
Nani & Mom

Patti said...

What fun!!! What could be better than to pick strawberries and eat homemade ice cream!
Glad everyone had a great time together!
Love,
Nani, Mom