Berry Picking

It was a school day and it was warm and sunny with blue sky. So some friends and I, with our younger children, drove out to Westmoreland Berry Farm to pick some strawberries. This farm is almost an hour away from us and along the Rappahannock River on the way to the Chesapeake Bay - part of the Northern Neck of Virginia. (HERE are some fun facts about the farm.)

We were getting there at the peak of strawberry season and boy were we excited to go pick our own fruit. I haven't gone berry picking since I was a child myself so I thought it would be neat to get my children involved in something fun and rewarding. I would have pulled Aubrey out of school to join us but I felt she was better staying at school to take her yearly SOL tests and not get behind. BUT, her and I will be making jam together so she will not be excluded from this fun experience! :) And I have a feeling this won't be the last time we visit the farm - the harvest schedule shows that raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, apples and pumpkins will all be available to pick in the coming months.

{Andrew, my friend's son, and Jocelyn}

{Berries at the farm for sale}

{The goat walk}

{All of the kids on the wagon. I love this one of Andrew - when we said to say "cheese" he said "eeeeeese" with a HUGE smile and eyes squinted!}

{My darling helpers and I before our FIRST strawberry picking adventure together!}

{I think this was about the time she informed me she needed to use the restroom. We were obviously on the farm now without one in sight so we walked a bit down the road away from the food so she could squat and pee. I guess we can add that to our day of adventures I suppose! :)}

{Took a picture of the stages of a strawberry}

{She helped carry the basket until it was too heavy. She did great picking only the red ones!}

{Was picking berries with a sleepy and hungry little boy easy? Nope! And he was hot and sweaty which led to more whining - but he was a trooper (and cute in the berry patch) and we all had a BLAST!}

{Us strawberry picking}

{My friend Annette}

{My friend Heather and her son}

{Andrew wandering around :)}

{Here's our 8 quart basket when we were done picking. To pick your own, it was $2.20/lb - so total, it came to $23 and some odd cents. It would have been $4.75/quart if we had bought them already picked. So about $38+ Soooo glad we picked our own!}

{Don't these look SO GOOD? :) Yum!}

{Lunch time!}

{Jocelyn LOVES animals and goats are no exception. She was a little disappointed there weren't any other animals but I had to explain to her that this was NOT the zoo!}

{Swinging is an all time favorite of theirs!}

{View of the farm from the snack bar/eating area}

{Andrew's animal vocabulary is still pretty minimal. Kitty and Doggy are it! So when he saw the goats, he yelled, "kitty, kitty"!!! Not quite, buddy! hahaha}

{Group photo before leaving the farm. Left to Right: Me, Jocelyn, Heather, Heather's son, Andrew and Annette.}

{"See you next time!"}

{On our way back home, we took a quick driving tour of Colonial Beach. This area divides Maryland and Virginia.} 

*Pictures of jam making coming soon!*