I'm so excited to be able to share our adventure to the Watts Farm to pick strawberries! We did not think we were going to be able to go this year due to masks being required. While I fully support businesses requiring patrons to wear a mask, our family will not be visiting such establishments unless absolutely necessary. And, well, to be perfectly honest picking strawberries just isn't an essential for our family. Thankfully, the farm did lift their mask requirement and we were able to pick 14 gallons of strawberries!
We actually tried to visit the farm two days prior when our oldest son was in town, but, unfortunately it started to rain the moment we pulled into the parking lot ~ sigh!! Still getting used to him not being around for all our fun family excursions, maybe next time.
Abby Lou thoroughly enjoyed her first visit to the strawberry patch. I gave her a strawberry to taste and she didn't quite know what to think of it.
I was really just trying to get a cute picture of Abby Lou holding the strawberry when she decided to lick it, but then she couldn't figure out if she liked it or not, and it was so cute. I honestly think if she had been able to she would have scarfed it down, because goodness gracious, those strawberries were extra sweet this year!
So thankful my husband is always up for my crazy shenanigans! It's not easy wrangling our wild crew to go and do anything, much less an outing to a local farm where there is delicious food at their finger tips. The kiddos were actually pretty well behaved and picked their fair share of berries for our family's needs.
Unfortunately, most of the toys at the farm were stored away due to them being 'contact items'. They did manage to negotiate with the powers that be to leave their Army jeep and tractor out for the children to enjoy.
We ended up staying for a couple hours, picking our necessary strawberries, visiting with the owner, letting the children run around and play, and of course allowing mama to take a bazillion pictures, lol.
We love supporting small businesses especially when it's local ~ add in that it's a fellow farmer and we're in 'hog heaven'. It's such a blessing to be able to talk 'shop' with someone who is familiar with the ups and downs of growing food. We've also spent many of our visits over the years discussing canning and delicious recipes made with homegrown food. Trust me y'all it's so wonderful to be able to support and encourage the community of local small businesses. I really wish we could get back to those days on a much broader scale.
Look how pretty all those strawberries are. We must have had the perfect weather for growing strawberries this year, because they were HUGE and extra sweet! This isn't even all of our buckets, we picked a total of 14 gallons. Watts farm provides gallon buckets for their customers to use while they are picking and upon payment the buckets are returned. Thankfully, we remembered our big six-gallon buckets to bring home all of our beautiful strawberries!
We've tried to no avail over the years to grow our own strawberries. Unfortunately, we've never been able to, which is why we are intentional to plan our yearly trip to Watts Farm to pick strawberries. Our family really likes strawberry jam. We typically add in our homegrown figs to make the jam stretch just a little further. I'll be sharing soon all about our strawberry jam making fun!
Once we returned home with all the strawberries, we went straight to coring and filling freezer bags. I have several berry corers which the big kids use to help core the strawberries. We create an assembly line of sorts with the buckets of fresh strawberries, a bowl for the core, and a basin for the cored strawberry. Once we were all done, the strawberries are placed into freezer bags and into the freezer. I kept about a gallon out to make a pie (I will be sharing that recipe soon) as well as for strawberry syrup to pour over homemade poundcake. You can find my strawberry syrup recipe here.
Watts Farm is not technically an organic farm due to the hoops they'd have to jump through to get the certification. But, they do not spray they're strawberries and they are planted brand new each year. While organic is not a necessity for us, it is a bonus and something we would prefer if at all possible. We have spent quite a bit of time talking with the owners, learning about their process and how their farm works. I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to visit Watts Farm this year. Not just to pick strawberries, but to support local small farms, and to enjoy quality family time. Plus, y'all know I'm a sucker for traditions. Hopefully it will be a continued tradition for many years to come.
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
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