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God is good.

At the ages of two and three my boys started picking strawberries. They love fruit so much and eat it so quickly that I explained to them they would have to work for their fruit. Those first couple of years they ate more than they put in the buckets but it was all a process of training.

Last May/June we were very new to the area and although I searched the computer for u-pick strawberry fields I was unable to find any. Thankfully, the year before we had picked 70 pounds of berries and I still had some freezer jam and puree for gelato in the freezer.

On Friday I was a bit frustrated because we took the day off from school to pick berries and so far the only place I had found was the place in Canby that we had used when we lived up in Milwaukie. Michael, the wonderful man that he is, searched the computer and found a place only 10 minutes from our home. That is the closest we have ever been to u-pick strawberries. God is good.

The boys and I headed to Bernards Farm. They charged only $1.25/pound, but if you picked more than ten pounds they drop it down to $1.00/pound. Pshaw. Ten pounds. My boys eat that in one sitting.

The strawberry fields were across the highway from their farm stand, so I drove over there. Another blessing. For years we have always had to carry all our berries from way out in the fields back to the farm stand and then to our car. For most of those years I was the primary fruit hauler as the boys were just too little. At Bernard’s we are able to pull right up into the field. 1875

I’m not sure if it is the type of berry they grow or the fact that we have had very little rain this spring thus eliminating lots of mud for mildew covered berries and all the slugs for berries with slug holes in them. These berries were so perfect. It took us an hour and a half to pick 65 pounds. In years past it would take us two hours to pick 70 pounds.

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Once we started picking I realized I had forgotten the camera. A quick call to Michael and he headed over with the camera and a little picking himself.

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There we are, five flats of berries.

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I’ll tell you what I do with all of them in another post.

I hope you all can indulge in the wonderfulness that are fresh strawberries.
Karen