Ever picked your own vegetables?
We did.
We went to Miller farm to pick vegetables this week.
I never realised that picking vegetables could be so much fun. I picked fruit regularly when I was younger, but never thought to go vegetable picking.
The kids were enthusiastic from the ride on a tractor trailer full of bales.
There were two other family groups on the tractor we were on. Only one group had been before and they were very organised in how many bags and what to get. We just followed them. I guess they were thinking of canning and freezing.
We chugged around together and at each stop we all jumped off and picked vegetables until our bags were full; the sun too hot or the kids complained- whichever came soonest.
The ‘tractor man’ as my big guy called him would go further off into the fields and come back with more produce or bigger produce for us. He was always greeted by a big enthusiastic “WOW!” from all of us.
First stop.. the potatoes.
Seeing them pulled up by the tractor- another machine created the wow factor in all the kids there. Once they recovered they ran around and picked up as many potatoes as they could stuff in their bag. You’d think candy had been dropped on the floor ,the excitement.
We picked tomatoes, peppers ( some hot Jalapenoes some green peppers), red and white onions, squash, corn and carrots.
There were beets and other vegetables but I was already thinking about what I was going to do with the 8 bags of vegetables I already had…
Those little red kid trailers were great for hauling all the veg back to the car.
We went with a playgroup day trip so had the group discount rate but the price was very reasonable for all the veggies we picked.
At the farm there are other distractions just for the kids. A big bale pyramid , bouncy castles, swings, a parked VW Beetle ( big hit with my boys) not to mention covered seating, a farm shop and washing facilities.
Through the 90 degree heat, dust and unexpected bogs of water, my little guy tripping over giant-well to him- onions and getting lost in the forest of corn we left tired, loaded with vegetables and very mucky but strangely happy at our achievement. We harvested vegetables that we’ll eat.
The best thing was hearing my son recount the experience; all the vegetables he picked and how they grew. He spoke so fast and had so much to say at the dinner table.
He insisted we cook corn that evening. He peeled the corn himself. I cooked it and he served his dad the ( read: special corn he held all the way home) corn he had picked. He was so proud. Explaining how it was white before and now it’s yellow because it was cooked.
Both boys ate all their veggies that night.
*******Any ideas on what I can do with all this produce?***
………Squash muffins sounded so nice when Jamie Oliver described them on Women’s hour. The recipe sounds so good.
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Technorati Tags: vegetables, farm, picking vegetables, kids, tractor, canning , freezing, playgroup, day trip
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September 11th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Thanks for sharing your adventure! I took my 4yo apple picking this summer, & he’s never been happier to eat apple, skin & all, whole! We made soooo many recipes with all the apples, and he ate every single one because they were HIS apples
Lucky you to have a good veggie picking place!
September 13th, 2007 at 5:46 am
Beautiful photos! And what a cutie! I didn’t know you could pick your own vegetables–outside pumpkins, that is.
I’ll have to look into it; we live in a farm community so I’m sure programs exist. Found you through Carnival of SAHM’s.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Happycampers: Thanks for stopping by.I think next year we’ll try apples. I would love to be able to do them both but just don’t have the freezer space to do both this year. How did your 4 year old reach the apples?
If only I could find a blackberry patch nearby…..
SAHMmy: Great title
Thanks. Snap! It never occurred to me either. Good idea. Ask around and try the link above you might find one in your area. Thanks for stopping by.
September 14th, 2007 at 4:53 am
Hi! Actually, the orchard we visited had all dwarf apple trees. They planted their orchard years ago with the purpose of bringing children into the orchard for field trips & for families to come together. So all the trees were short & there were many, many apples within my son’s reach! I never knew such things existed! Next year, we’ll be visiting a blueberry/blackberry farm…they have thornless blackberry bushes so my son can actually pick blackberries & not get poked!
September 14th, 2007 at 5:22 am
What a great idea Dwarf apple trees. I’ve just ordered a box of apples to help a local school. That’s a much as we can do this year. I’ll be on the look out for thornless blackberry bushes though. Thanks for coming back to let me know. I had visions of lifting the boys up for an apple and that not lasting long with me………………
September 14th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Have you ever visited PickYourOwn website? http://www.pickyourown.org/
They list all sorts of places you can go pick your own things. There is a BIG list of places in the US, but there’s also other countries as well (I think I read you’re not in the US). Maybe that would be helpful?
If you want to check out the dwarf trees, my son has a blog entry with pictures from our day there.
http://reesesviewoftheworld.blogspot.com/2007/07/peach-apple-picking.html
It will give you a better idea of the tree size!
November 12th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
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