Strawberry juice

It's the time of the year when all the strawberry stands pop up on the corners of the farmer's fields out here in the Central Valley, CA. There is so much grown in the valley, the chances are very likely you have something in your kitchen that was grown here. It's good for us when we can buy this beautiful, fresh fruit and nuts just steps from our home! It's not always great for our allergies with everything blooming, but we manage.

Yesterday, we bought a big box of these beauties. Michael loves strawberries. He calls them "strawbabies." They are so juicy the juice was dripping down his mouth onto his chin. His shirt was full of strawberry juice yesterday! They go bad fast though so we'll be eating them at every meal for a couple of days!

There is a farm a little north of where we live that does "U-Pick." We will go there and pick off the trees and bushes what looks good to us and then pay for it. We may head out there soon to see what they have. I have really fond memories of picking strawberries with my mom, sister and brother at a little farm off Donald Ross Road in Jupiter, FL. That land is now a major mecca of shopping, dining, housing and baseball stadiums. Hopefully these little U-Pick farms will continue to survive, its a great way to teach our kids where our food comes from and its a fun family outing for all of us. Do you all have any U-Pick farms near your home?