A U-Pick Summer

Today got me thinking back to this past summer.  Seems odd as it is December 21, the first day of winter, but the 60 degree temperature has me a little out of sorts.

I love the long, supposedly lazy, days of summer, especially here in Western New York. Our days were far from lazy, but were long and quite enjoyable as weekdays were spent in the yard until dusk attempted to turn in to dark and weekends were spent embracing our Western New York farm land as we went from U-pick farm to U-pick farm or worked on our own little acre.

Left to Right:  McKenzie, Dann Maren
and Madison

This year we harvested strawberries close to home, cherries with a full day trip up to Lake Ontario region, blueberries, Apples and Grapes all of which had us driving the southern roads of Western New York, including a dirt road on the blueberry trip as we included a visit to meet a local NOFA-NY chicken farmer about organic feed for the ladies.
During these trips I have been thoroughly entertained by our fellow pickers.  At the strawberry field I am sure we were the highlight having 3 of our nieces with us.  They certainly kept us entertained!  While we were cherry picking there was a group looking to pick over 100lbs of cherries.  100 pounds!!!  

Singer Farms:  Cherry Picking

While blueberry picking I was treated to 3 boys, I assume brothers, where the oldest (maybe 12?) was coaching his siblings on where to find THE BEST blueberries - in the middle of the bush!  Of course there were also the slightly older teen girls talking about who likes who.  I even had my bum spanked by a toddler wanting to get my attention to give me a blueberry leaf.  But nothing quite tops the scene as we pulled up to a farm to pick Apples and Grapes.  About 100 feet before we pulled in to park stood a Bull.  Yup, you got that right a real live Bull just standing by the grape vines.  We determined grapes just might NOT be on the agenda if Mr. Bull didn't find his way home.  Fortunately as we were heading out for the Apples we noticed the farmer across the way had come to fetch his Bull.  I'm still not quite sure how one goes about "fetching a bull" but the farmer did it quite handily from my observation deck quite a ways a way and we were able to go home with some grapes after all.

Childs Blueberry Farm

As we were picking I reflected on how sad it is that for so many their first introductions to fruit are from the grocery store aisle, and not from the fields. And in for many this may be their only experience with fruit. To think a strawberry is hard and tasteless and never quite strawberry in color. A cherry tasting like bland nothingness around a pit or heaven forbid maraschino is your only experience. There is no comparison to a fresh picked berry or cherry. I now find myself cringing when I see people eating “fresh” strawberries in August, knowing they are not local and could not possibly taste the same as those picked at their peak and whisked to your farmers markets in mere hours.

The best part of these trips?  First, and foremost, time with Dann, including introducing him to the age old contest of cherry pit spitting.  Yes, just shy of 40, Dann spit his first cherry pit!  Second, an opportunity to get to know Western New York better and enjoy the incredible scenery around us, third, a freezer full of fresh frozen summer fruit that we are enjoying as the weather turns......cold?