Fruit Picking @ Blakes Farm
The last weekend was a very memorable one. We had a very unique experience, which I was unaware of for the past one and half years. We had been to a place called Blake’s Farms. It is a family owned farmland where visitors are allowed all year round to visit and pick any of the seasonal fruit/vegetable(s) that is (are) growing there at that time. These are available for purchase at a reasonable price. Thanks to the Mr.’s friend – P – we came to know of this and went to experience it last Sunday. 
The Strawberries were almost at the end of their tenure, the cherries were starting to catch the attention and the raspberries and sweet peas were in their “mid 30s”! What a ball of time we had.
It was the first time any of us were seeing a strawberry or a raspberry plant – so that itself was more than half of the excitement. And the other half was the sheer joy of plucking those wonderful fruits from the small shrub like plants – and occasionally popping one or two into the mouth and biting into the juicy berries. They were so unlike the ones that we buy from the store. They were much softer, juicer and sweeter than any that I ever had eaten.
I have never seen my parents so happier in any trip. After coming back home, appa remarked to the Mr. that he had the best time of his life and that he would prefer any such ‘natural’ trips than the ones to visit concrete jungles. Seriously what nature has to offer, not even the best creations of man can beat I guess.
After having “worked hard” for nearly 2 hours in the warm young sun, we sat down to have the best picnic lunch in the world – Amma’s Lemon rice and Thair chadam. Why does food always taste so much better when eaten inside a park or beach or some outdoor location? There was a small shop there at the farm selling doughnuts, cider, some picked vegetables, fruits, jams & jellies and fudge. This was the only place giving as little fudge as you wanted to buy. All other places I have been sells only big slabs of 1 Lb and nobody is interested in “intaking” that much of calories!
We are hoping to go there every month to catch the latest produce and relive this wondrous experience. See our booty for this time.
The Strawberries were almost at the end of their tenure, the cherries were starting to catch the attention and the raspberries and sweet peas were in their “mid 30s”! What a ball of time we had. It was the first time any of us were seeing a strawberry or a raspberry plant – so that itself was more than half of the excitement. And the other half was the sheer joy of plucking those wonderful fruits from the small shrub like plants – and occasionally popping one or two into the mouth and biting into the juicy berries. They were so unlike the ones that we buy from the store. They were much softer, juicer and sweeter than any that I ever had eaten.
I have never seen my parents so happier in any trip. After coming back home, appa remarked to the Mr. that he had the best time of his life and that he would prefer any such ‘natural’ trips than the ones to visit concrete jungles. Seriously what nature has to offer, not even the best creations of man can beat I guess.
After having “worked hard” for nearly 2 hours in the warm young sun, we sat down to have the best picnic lunch in the world – Amma’s Lemon rice and Thair chadam. Why does food always taste so much better when eaten inside a park or beach or some outdoor location? There was a small shop there at the farm selling doughnuts, cider, some picked vegetables, fruits, jams & jellies and fudge. This was the only place giving as little fudge as you wanted to buy. All other places I have been sells only big slabs of 1 Lb and nobody is interested in “intaking” that much of calories!
We are hoping to go there every month to catch the latest produce and relive this wondrous experience. See our booty for this time.
And this are the muffins I made out of the raspberries.
Comments
Even we (including pranav) enjoyed fruit picking to the hilt how many ever times we go.
The first experience was apple picking in Detroit. I really felt guilty as I wasted apples after having just 2 or 3 bites. But we liked picking smaller fruits esp cherry picking a lot as we could enjoy the shade of the trees when needed. As I was pregnant then, I could not relish strawberry picking but enjoyed monitoring others doing the pick ;-) & giving them some (un??)worthy tips!!
Speaking of places liked by parents, try visiting natural parks like hocking hills, Ohiopyle state park near your place. The trail walks are too good to be missed. My parents too enjoyed these natural parks more than the concrete jungle of NY.
Subha
"Mannin meethu manithanukkasai, Manithan meethu mannukkasai. Manthaan kadaisiyil jeyikkirathu athai manam thaan unara marukkirathu..." :)
(For Non-Tamil folks : Man yearns for earth (to own), Earth yearns for man (for eating him after death). The earth finally wins, but our mind refues to accept it...)
For nature turns you into whatever you have imagined you cannot be, suddenly you turn a scientist thinking about the science behind certain nature's acts, suddenly you are a writer trying to pen down what ever you have seen, suddenly you are a poet trying to cram all that you have seen into very few worthy words... If nature has such power how does a human being says he has control over himself??? :)
Lovely snaps and the muffins look great. Can you ship them to salt lake?
Nature trips are the best Vidhya - Mrs and I enjoyed the calmer Coonoor trip rather than our Malaysia/Spore trip!!!
i wanted to go for strawberry picking this year, but unfortunately i couldnt because of the work. we had been for pumpkin picking last year.. they are so big in size :) that i could not actually pick them. just sit next to them and psoe for a snap :)
Ammas food is always the best. i would have loved to come for that strawberry picking - if i knew there were free lemon rice lunch boxes :)