It's Strawberry Season!

I didn't realize the folly of my plan until we were deep in the farm field.  My 2-year-old daughter was picking every berry in sight, including those that were unripe, bruised or moldy. 

"Pick the red ones!" I admonished, realizing even as I spoke that she doesn't yet know her colors. To my surprise, she reached down and grabbed a beautiful, ripe berry.

"That's a nice one," I encouraged, pointing at the bucket.  My daughter flung the berry into the pail with such force that I actually flinched.

"Strawberry!" she said, giving me a proud smile.

I looked down at my daughter's happy face and decided not to argue, even as a piece of straw went into the bucket next.  You have to pick your fights with toddlers. 

We were standing in one of the pick-your-own strawberry fields at last Wednesday.  It was a hot and muggy morning, the first clear sky after days of rain.  A crowd of roughly fifty fellow berry pickers dotted the fields.  Many, like me, were parents with young children.

I spoke to Nina Schmidgall as she and her husband funneled their two kids and several pounds of strawberries into the car.  The family had driven up to Butler's from Washington, D.C. 

"We wanted to enjoy the warm weather and get some strawberries to make some jam together at home," said Schmidgall.  "[It's] just a fun family trip."

Schmidgall said that her kids enjoyed picking strawberries, despite the heat.  "I had a hard time keeping my son from eating all of them.  I think he ate more than he picked, so we had to make up for him," she said.

My daughter, on the other hand, showed no interest in eating the strawberries.  She did, however, enjoy taking berries out of the bucket.  Despite this minor drain, we quickly filled the bottom half of our pail with berries of various colors. 

Walking back to our car, I spoke with Andrew Cullen, a Butler's Orchard employee for just over 10 years.  He explained that a phenomenal strawberry season results from the perfect mix of rain and sun. 

Cullen is hopeful this year. "We've had some very good crowds so far.  It's only our fourth day of picking today."  He asked how we'd fared in the fields.

I laughed.  "It's my daughter's first time picking strawberries," I explained.  "I think I have as many green ones as red ones," I said, exaggerating only slightly.

Cullen, it turns out, has a background in early childhood development. He reassured me that hands-on experiences such as picking strawberries are great activities for young children. I tried to keep this in mind as I looked at my bucket of bruised fruit. 

I paid for our strawberries at the . Pondering what to do with our haul, I turned to Karen Sawyer, assistant market manager, for advice. 

"This is our first crop of strawberries," explained Sawyer.  "These are called Early Glow.  Early Glows are great for lots of things.  They freeze really well." She said that in order to freeze strawberries, you should first lay them out flat on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, you can place them into freezer bags and they won't stick together.

"Early Glows are wonderful for making strawberry preserves or jam." From memory, Sawyer quickly recited a list of potential outcomes for my strawberries: bread, slushes, ice cream, cereal, pie, candy, muffins. “Personally, I think they are best just eaten plain," she said, with a laugh. 

We'll have to try that tonight, I thought, after I pick out the straw.