Strawberry Picking

It was a beautiful, although very windy, day here yesterday. The strawberries that we planted in our yard this year aren't doing much (although I didn't expect that they would) and the ones I have been buying at the grocery store have been very sour. So, Madeleine and I left the boys at home and we headed up to Independence, IA to pick some strawberries at Bagge Strawberries.

Independence is about an hour away from where we live. Thirty miles up the highway and then the rest of the drive is through rolling hills complete with farms and farm smells (courtesty of the cows we saw along the way). Granted we live in a small town too (population 900) but at least we are 15 minutes away from 2 somewhat large cities. All Independence seemed to have was a Walmart and a Fareway. and it wasn't that close to a lager city. Where do they shop??!!?

We arrived a little before noon and there were about 15 people already out in the field picking. We stopped at the little building on the edge of the property to find out what exactly we were supposed to be doing. We each got a basket and then were given a ride on a golf cart out to the field.

We were dropped off in the field and led to the row where we would start picking. Basically we could pick in that row for as long as we wanted and we were given a flag so we could mark where we left off. Before he left, Madeleine was told she could taste test as many of the strawberries as she wanted, and I'd say she took that statement to heart. When we left she had red smears all around her mouth.

Busy picking strawberries:

When we were finished we started walking back to get our strawberries weighed and to pay for them. About halfway back we stopped and Madeleine posed with our haul:

We ended up picking about 13 1/2 pounds of strawberries, at $1.20 a pound, ended up costing us just over $16. Not a bad price when you consider the grocery store charges about 4.99 for a 2 pound box.

Now, what to do with all these strawberries ...