the long and winding road...

Berry pickin'
G loves to pick stuff, usually flowers, but last year we went to a blueberry farm that was really fun. Then I thought about the cute strawberry dress she had, did a google search and well that did it!

My mom decided to come along for the ride down to Rainbow. I wasn't really sure what to expect. They grow lots of strawberries around here. There are huge fields of them in long rows. I was wondering if it would be difficult to pick them especially for my mom who walks with a cane. As it turned out, the strawberries on this "you pick" farm were grown in vertical baskets up off the ground which made them super easy to "pick". We didn't actually pick them, they gave us small scissors and you could snip each one which prevented people from squeezing the fruit as well as damaging the plants I'm sure.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning to be in the Temecula winery area and we took our time walking around finding the perfect berries. Georgie was in heaven and wanted to pretty much snip every single berry she could find. At $4 per pound I tried to slow her down a bit.

While at the strawberry place I mentioned to my mom that I'd seen a facebook posting that the blueberry place had recently opened for the season and that as I recalled it was pretty close to where we were. You know what goes great with fresh strawberries?? Fresh blueberries. After a bit of lunch we were off to do some more pickin'.

It seems that the blueberry season has just begun as the bushes were not loaded down with ripe berries like they were when we went last year. There were still plenty of berries but we had to be a bit more selective this time. I was really proud of Georgie. She was quite patient with her search for the ripest berries. It took a long time (30-40 mins) for her choose enough to fill her 2 pint bucket but eventually, with a little bit of help from me and Grandma, it was full!

By the time we began to make our way home, it had been a very long day for little G. She was so, so tired from her busy day of harvesting.

The best part of the harvest is definitely getting to eat the fruits of your efforts. G gave it a big thumbs up!!!

 Three generations of fruit loving ladies :-)

Next stop, blueberries!

 I think these are some of the prettiest strawberries I've ever seen!

 Georgie's own personal creation. A blueberry in a strawberry cone!

Somebody told me you can pick apples around here too. Sounds great!