Strawberry Picking

Hello from Belize. I'm currently here on holiday; this is a pre-scheduled post. Enjoy!

I started my life in the city (born in Queens and toddled in Brooklyn to be more specific) and then moved Long Island in 2nd grade and eventually wound up in the suburbs of New Jersey. I have been here for over half of my life now but I think that at my core, I am a still a city girl. I love hustle and bustle and subways and sidewalks. But, I certainly cannot deny that the suburbs have been good to me. I have a yard of my own to play in, which is a luxury my dog shares. I can always find parking, I can garden, and I can bike around my neighborhood. I learned to drive and got my license as soon as I was of age (which is something that can't be said of most of my city-dwelling friends). I trick-or-treated outdoors from house to house instead of from apartment to apartment. Are those enough reasons to appreciate the suburbs of New Jersey? How about one more?: fruit picking.


As children, my parents would take my sister and me to several pick-your-own farms every year; most of which are a 30 minute drive from our home. We'd start with strawberry picking late in the spring/early summer, peach picking and raspberry picking mid summer, and end with apple picking in the autumn. It was always so much fun to try and find the "perfect" piece of fruit or look specifically for ones that were oddly shaped or sometimes look for the smallest (but still ripe) pieces.

A couple of weekends ago, my sister, dad, and I went strawberry picking at my favorite pick-your-own place, Alstede Farms. We were there for the strawberry harvest festival and because the weather was so gorgeous, it was quite crowded. Alstede Farms is my favorite because they have lots of different crops to pick but also, they have a bunch of animals to feed and pet or just look at. I'll be sharing my animal photos on my travel blog, so look out for that post. Here, I'm sharing my strawberry picking photos.

{What a gorgeous day, huh?}
{We had to park quite far away; it was a busy day and the lots were full.}

{I spy, with my little eye, two rogue balloons}

{sister and dad}
{On our way to the strawberry fields.}

{Here I am, holding a seedy dandelion.}

{Standing in the raspberry fields.}
{they're not ripe & ready yet}

{We passed a field where they were growing all different kinds of lettuce.}
{I love the lines they create in this photo. It's artsy, right?}

{STRAWBERRIES!}
{I kept calling everyone migraine workers. Quick! Name that show!}

{Here's my dad, picking lots of red ripe berriess}

{While my dad was hard at work, my sister and I were just being weird and silly.}
{You gotta love that double chin action.}

{baby sister}

{first pick of the day}

{pretty strawberries}

{weird strawberry}

{picking the smallest ripe strawberry I could find}
{and then pretending to eat it}

{sister showing off the most perfectly shaped berry}
{dad holding our overflowing tray}

{hideously shaped berry}
{berry cluster}

{sister and dad showing off our bounty}
{strawberry earrings!}

{I have strawberry earrings too!}
{and strawberry boogers}

{How red and amazing are these?}

{We finished off the day with strawberry slushies.}
{It was so hot, these totally hit the spot. I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.}

If you enjoy nature and being outdoors, go fruit picking! It's a fun activity to do with family and/or friends. It would probably be a great activity for the Fourth of July weekend. Go pick your own and then watch some fireworks.

xoxo