Strawberry Picking

For the last few years we have made it a little tradition to go strawberry picking with my Mom and Dad and then we make jam together. It is lots of fun and Ristow has really enjoyed it.
When I was little my brother and I would go strawberry picking with Mom and our Aunt Betty. I have so many found memories of picking strawberries and begging to eat "just one more". They were experiences that I cherish and I am thrilled to be able to share that with my kids.

We are lucky enough to live in an area where there are numerous pick your own farms within an hour of us. We went this weekend and just barely made the end of strawberry season around here. But we picked a few baskets full and enjoyed the time together.

I filled my basket pretty quickly and moved along the row fast enough to keep my basket just out of reach of the toddler on my heels reaching for another strawberry. Jessica loved that the strawberries just kept magically appearing in my basket and would grab one and run away, shoving it into her mouth. It was only much later on that I realized she had been eating the berries stem an all. That should make for interesting digestion ;)

Ristow on the other hand picked only about 15 strawberries total. He is very particular about which berries are worthy of picking or not, so he would rather just have a few GREAT ones than a basket of mediocre ones.

Tomorrow morning is Jam morning at Mom's but at the rate my kids are eating these berries, there may only be enough for one container of jam ;) At least they are enjoying them!