Strawberry Pickin'

Last Friday morning, we went strawberry pickin' at Oak Grove Farm, which is just a few miles from our house. We went with our good friends from pre-school, the "other" Weavers. Henry was in Ben's class, and Julia was in Ellie's class. The teachers were forever getting the two families mixed up. And to make matters worse, the other mom's name is Beth - way too close to Becky! I always joke that it's a good thing we like each other, or the constant mixing up would be just plain annoying!

The kids were so excited to see each other , since they haven't been together in about two weeks. When we got to the strawberry fields, feeling optimistic, we doled out one 4-quart basket per child and decided that the mommies would simply facilitate.

The kids jumped right in and got to work. The girls bent down right away and began looking closely for berries to pick. The boys tried this for a few minutes and then settled on the Easter Egg Hunt approach. They would simply walk wistfully up and down the rows waiting for a berry to jump out and ask to be picked.

Here's a cute shot of Jules showing off a good find.

Whenever the boys would find a big one, they would yell from across the field, "Jackpot!" I'm not quite sure they even knew what that meant. It just sounded exciting when Miss Beth yelled it earlier... Henry even took to yelling for the not-so-big ones too. He'd holler, "Medium jackpot!" Hey. What ever it takes to motivate boys, right? :-)

Ellie was our "Berry Picking Monster!" She hardly ever came up for air!!! I helped her find her first berry, she narrated very exaggeratedly, "Twist... and... pull." And off she went. Beth thinks we may have discovered a good career path for her. :-)

The other kids caught on to Ellie's work ethic and would randomly walk by and leave their baskets next to her, perhaps in hopes that she would help them out a bit. I actually overheard Henry ask her once if she could put some berries in his basket, too! They figure it out at such an early age, don't they? Why should I work harder if I might be able to find someone else to do the work for me?!? :-)

And she's still going...

Can you see Jules' Braveheart berry streak above her right eye? Love it! Now that's the sign of a hard worker...and eater. Watch out, Mel Gibson...

By the end of our excursion, Beth and I had finished helping the boys fill their baskets, and they were seated in the field, waiting. We were just topping off the girls' baskets, as we began to hear the boys yelling in unison, "We're finished... We're finished..." once every few seconds. Must be time to go!

All in all, it was a fun outing. The weather was gorgeous and cool. The berries were DELICIOUS. And the kids were terrific. Each family went home with 8 quarts of strawberries!!! This was, oh... about four times the amount I thought I'd be returning with!!!

Anyone have any good strawberry recipes??????