COLOURFULWORLD

Friday 28 September 2018

Strawberry fields forever

Some friends invited me to go strawberry picking with them last Sunday, 23rd. They have young kids and had done it before, but for me it was the first time, and I had no idea  people could go and pick their own fruit but you can.

They picked me up at home and we drove to Wangara in the northern suburbs of Perth, to Kien strawberry farm. I noticed a few other strawberries farms along the same road, and there were loads of cars parked along the road and people walking towards the various farms.
We parked, and at the farm entrance bought the number of boxes we each required - $7 per box, and walked towards the far end of the farm as we could see the front rows were a bit empty already.
The farm was gigantic, with rows and rows of strawberry plants popping through black plastic, and once we chose where to go we started at the beginning of that row and walked our way through until we had filled our boxes.


The day was quite warm and I don't know how long it took us to pick our strawberries - 
I had 2 boxes to fill -  but we chatted as we moved along the rows, and also ate a few strawberries...not too many though as they were warm, and we didn't want to risk an upset stomach later on...
I picked some almost ripe and some not so ripe.
At the beginning...
Two boxes full at the end

The strawberry picking group - that's me in the pink t-shirt with the floppy hat


When we finished we drove to the Wanneroo Markets not too far away where we had lunch.
One of the food outlets at the market - Celyta's - belongs to a Portuguese lady.
Sometime last year I had attended a lunch there organized by a friend of ours (they have a function room there that can be used for big groups) and Celita had cooked some traditional dishes for the group.
This time she had pork and lamb cutlets, and chicken, but I don't eat the first two, and didn't feel like chicken either. My friend's daughters were going for bitoque, a very popular dish with kids - which is a thin steak topped with an egg and accompanied by fries and salad. 
 I ordered that for myself too, and I'm glad I did as the steak was delicious.
Lunch was accompanied by a couple singing songs from a couple of decades ago and even the kids were moving their bodies to it.




At home I weighed the boxes and both were over 4kgs (8,8 pounds), rinsed the strawberries in a bowl with 4 parts water and 1 part vinegar, to kill the spores so that they last longer, then sorted them.
With a bunch of very ripe ones I made 2 jars of jam using honey instead of sugar. I froze some ripe strawberries to use in smoothies later on, the medium ones I put in different containers for me to eat and to give away to my son and friends, and took some to work, and the greener ones are still in the fridge.

The end product 


It was a great day out, the fruit was much cheaper than in the supermarket, the kitchen smelt of strawberries, they are so sweet and juicy.
I've already told my friend that if she hears of any other fruit picking she must let me know - next one I think will be cherries,  oh yeah!!

26 comments:

  1. I did some strawberry picking when my children were smnall. It is a hard job!! But they were delicious. I do not do that anymore, but I am planning to go apple picking one day soon. Have not done that for a while either.

    You have good, delicious, organic jam now!!

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    1. Thanks Catarina, that's nice that your kids had that experience. I remember going apple picking in Portugal with the kids and then we ate apples for months, lol.

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  2. I haven't picked strawberries since I was a kid. My parents would get them, and some my mother made into jam, the others she'd divide up into bags for freezing over the winter as desserts.

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  3. Replies
    1. Tambem e das minhas preferidas Francisco. Bom fim de semana.

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  4. ...'strawberry fields forever,' a great tune.

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    1. Thanks Tom, yes sung by the great Beatles!

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  5. I remember when I was small we had a strawberry patch at home. The strawberries never got big like the ones in the stores, though. I think it was because of the variety. But yours look like those found in supermarkets in the states. They are awesome, you saved money, and you had fun in the process! Oh, wow. Cherries. I've picked those and shaken them out of trees, too! I had a very fruity childhood!

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    1. I have a couple of strawberry plants in my garden, but I hardly ever get to eat them, I think the birds get first pick :)
      Have a nice weekend Elizabeth.

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  6. What a good thing to do. We've only picked blueberries at a farm once. I would prefer strawberries.

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    1. Thanks Andrew, who knows maybe you also have farms around your area too :)

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  7. Wow that's a lot of strawberries

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  8. Oh, my! Strawberries and ice cream. Vanilla.

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    1. Thanks Revrunner, I usually add some cream to the strawberries.

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  9. Replies
    1. Thanks Marianne, yes it was lots of fun!

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  10. Oh, yum! I never knew to wash them with vinegar - I´ll keep that in mind for in case my strawberry plants didn´t make it.
    Sounds like a great day.

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    1. I also learned that recently, as the strawberries I used to buy from the supermarket would go off very quickly, so I looked up how to make them last longer. And it seems to be working with the tray I still have in the fridge.

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  11. The strawberries look awesome. And the lunch afterwards sounded good too.

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    1. They were both great Mary, thanks for visiting.

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  12. Dearest Sami,
    You had me read the title twice as it was the subject of my email this morning.
    John Lennon's B'day today and we have visited his Strawberry Fields Forever, across the Dakota apartments where Yoko Ono still lives.
    That was a wonderful day spent with friends together and it yielded so much.
    Sending you hugs,
    Mariette

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  13. That was a really good price for super fresh strawberries! I barely ate strawberries this summer because it was crazy prices here in Sweden, even if they grown localy. Next year I'll check for self-picking places, they might exist here as well.

    Bitoques are popular with kids and adults who live far from Portugal :) I never miss a chance to eat one either.

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