Friday, May 30, 2008

Lessons Learned in the Strawberry Patch


Yesterday, my five year old (well, he was five yesterday, today he is six!) and his friend and I went strawberry picking. It's an annual tradition we've had since they were two. We picked 14 pounds of strawberries. 

Here are some of the things we learned:

Strawberries are good (I already knew that but my son decided he didn't like them until we coaxed him into picking one and trying it - he loudly declared them good).

Food grows in dirt.

Eating a little dirt can't hurt you.

It's really fun to eat food you've just picked.

Time flies really fast when you're enjoying yourself.

It's important to rotate crops (last year the strawberries were on the other side of the field).

Bending over doesn't feel like such a chore when the reward is a fresh picked strawberry (okay, only I learned that lesson).

It's better to pick early in the day before it gets too hot.

Sharing traditions with friends is important.

Sharing your bounty with friends is important - we gave away a lot of strawberries to neighbors today.

If you want a basket full of perfect, bright red, juicy strawberries, leave the kids at home. If you want to have a lot of fun, let the kids see how things work on a farm, and give them a love for good food and nature, accept the fact that you're going to have a few less then ripe berries. 

Strawberries are good.
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2 comments:

Allison said...

I love picking my own fruit. I grow up in a city near Los Angeles. We had more asphalt than greenery. I had no clue how a strawberry or lettuce or tomatoes grew. (Only oranges and apples) So I am on a mission to find out as much as I can about how things grow. I still need to see pototoes, which I can grow myself, bananas, cocnuts, and sugar cane. See a pattern here? I want to go somewhere tropical, maybe next year.
It is great you take the kids, I took my 7 and 9 year old boysenberry picking 2 days ago. My 7 year old daughter helped for about 10 minutes, left to pee and didn't come back. My 9 year old son thought I was going to pay him to pick and when he found out I was not he went in the car to listen to my ipod. BUT they learned how these berries grew. They are really good about playing outside but God forbid they "work" outside. I found it very theraputic myself, especially after the kids left, ha ha.

Robin Shreeves said...

Allison - tell your kid you'll pay him to pick when he pays you to cook his meals and wash his clothes!

Good luck with your tropical traveling plans!