Strawberry Picking

Did you know North Carolina is the 4th largest strawberry-producing state?  Now you do.  We decided to get in on the strawberry picking and went to Buckwheat Farm last week.  It had stormed mid-day, but I decided to risk the muddy fields and go that afternoon anyway because it was the last day of the $1/lb sale.  They just asked that you pick out the mushy berries and toss them on the ground as you pick.  It really wasn't muddy at all, but our shoes were plenty messy from the berries.

 Clayton's favorite part of the trip: Eating the strawberries.  For the first while of picking, he was kind of fussy and wanted to sit on me while I was trying to pick berries.  He stuck his hands in a few mushy ones and was turned off of having anything to do with these red things. 

  

About halfway into our picking experience, he realized these were strawberries!  ...He kept himself occupied without trying to sit on me for the rest of the time :)

Jackson told me his favorite part of the trip was "running far far away" from me down the row.  He had a great time running back and forth...he never got too far away or out of sight, but for him I guess it felt like he was living on the edge :)

 His second favorite part: sampling a few berries.  He found one that kind of had a dent at the end rather than a point..."Look mom!  It looks like a bum!" And later, "Look! It's a little bum one! Like my bum!"

We ended up getting about 8.5 lbs of berries, most of which I made into jam with some friends in my ward.  I'm planning on going back some time to get more to make into fruit leather and dried fruit snacks.