A first time at strawberry picking

It was going to be a sunny Sunday, said the weather forecast. So we thought we should spend the day out; maybe visit one of the places on our constantly growing list of places to check out. Now if you live in the San Francisco Bay area, you are spoilt for choices — there are the beaches, there are the redwoods, zoos, lakes, mountains, wine tasting; all within a couple of hours away. But I was in the mood for something different; something that we hadn’t done before. So we drove south, towards the Central Coast of California and instead of heading to the seaside, we made our way to a farm in Watsonville, CA. We’d chosen to go a strawberry picking.

My toddler loves those little red fruits and can never get enough of them. He was all too excited when we told him about the plan. Hubby and I had never been to a strawberry farm — well — any farm in the US, for that matter. So this was perfect.

The place we picked out was one called Crystal Bay Farm. When we got there, there were a few families already on the field, picking up the red deliciousness and our little one couldn’t wait to get his cute little hands on those ‘sthobedhies.’ It was time for some farm activity and taking back some fresh organic fruits.

Here’s the drill, you go to the self-serve farm stand, pick up your containers, head to the field, pick your strawberries, return to the farm stand, weigh them and drop the cash into a drop box there. Of course it also includes taking in the weather, admiring the pretty red berries and just having fun going about the activity of strawberry picking. Crystal Bay Farm has enough to charm you. This strawberry farm is fringed with curios like old iron garden furniture, old rusting tractors, wooden benches, a small wooden stage that makes you feel like you are at a small fair and things of the sort.

As we were weighing our pick, I bumped into Lori, who owns the farm. She told me the stage was for the musical performances they have at the farm on occasions. She went on to tell me that sometimes they also screen movies at the farm. She invited us back for Halloween and promised that it was going to be a great party. Before I left, I made sure to ask her what months of the year we’d find strawberries and she said, April to October. She also let me know that the farm would be ready with raspberries around July. And I made a mental note of that. 😉

FYI

• If you want to go strawberry picking and don’t know where to go, find a farm here: http://www.pickyourown.org/statelist.htm#statelist
• Make sure to wear closed shoes, if you don’t want your feet to bring back caked mud.
• Pick the reddest berries. (The orange and green ones won’t ripen later. I tried that too)
• .It may not be a good idea to pick more than 2-3 pounds unless you are planning to make some Jam or Shortcake. Don’t forget that these fruits shrivel up in 2-3 days even if kept refrigerated.