We are hot and tired, and our quart containers are brimming with our success (well, not quite brimming, but it feels like success). We spent the morning tagging along with friends to a berry farm. On the menu: pick your own blueberries and black raspberries.
This was Audrey's first foray into berry picking (and my first time to pick blueberries). If you want to take your toddler berry picking for the first time, blueberries are a pretty ideal start. The taller bushes reach their eye level. The berries are easy for little fingers to pull off, without thorns or anything to prick them along the way. And, after a little explaining, they can pretty easily discern the dark blue ones from the green. (Oh, a blue or purple outfit to camouflage stains doesn't hurt, either).
Audrey's concentration bobbed between picking berries and chasing her friend, Michael, down the walking paths between the bushes. There is much to be discovered in a berry field: sticks; flowers; bugs; other kids, picking with their parents, who just want to be left alone and don't understand why a little blond keeps tailing them; dogs; more sticks; mom's water bottle. It's a bit of a hot, sticky adventure - one with a built-in snack.
If fact, the toddler years may be some of the best for dragging your little one around the berry farm, while they still have that odd internal thermometer that says 50 degree water is ideal for swimming and 90 degree weather is perfect for running around and performing manual labor.
As for me, after spending more days than I care to count quarantined inside in an attempt to keep incessant sneezing at bay, this trip seemed like a nice introduction back into the best of what summer has to offer. Deep purples and blues against a sea of green. The sound of kids discovering outside. Fruit so fresh it begs to be eaten before you can leave the field - before it makes it from bush to carton. Work with a reward so great, it becomes more of a quest than work - a scavenger hunt for fruit.
We left the field with some sun on our faces, some grass on our knees, and berries in the backseat. Tired in the best of ways. Thankful for some time outdoors and time among friends.
And then we journeyed home to find rest. And taste summer.
Audrey's concentration bobbed between picking berries and chasing her friend, Michael, down the walking paths between the bushes. There is much to be discovered in a berry field: sticks; flowers; bugs; other kids, picking with their parents, who just want to be left alone and don't understand why a little blond keeps tailing them; dogs; more sticks; mom's water bottle. It's a bit of a hot, sticky adventure - one with a built-in snack.
If fact, the toddler years may be some of the best for dragging your little one around the berry farm, while they still have that odd internal thermometer that says 50 degree water is ideal for swimming and 90 degree weather is perfect for running around and performing manual labor.
As for me, after spending more days than I care to count quarantined inside in an attempt to keep incessant sneezing at bay, this trip seemed like a nice introduction back into the best of what summer has to offer. Deep purples and blues against a sea of green. The sound of kids discovering outside. Fruit so fresh it begs to be eaten before you can leave the field - before it makes it from bush to carton. Work with a reward so great, it becomes more of a quest than work - a scavenger hunt for fruit.
We left the field with some sun on our faces, some grass on our knees, and berries in the backseat. Tired in the best of ways. Thankful for some time outdoors and time among friends.
And then we journeyed home to find rest. And taste summer.
So glad you got to go berry picking, we hit the fields yesterday, LOVE IT! We're making Jam on Monday.!
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