Hillary and Claire Pick some Berries. Yo.

Hillary and Claire went to pick some strawberries at a local farm this morning and Hillary wanted to blog about it so here it is the first blog of hopefully many from Hillary:

This morning Claire and I ventured out to a berry farm here in Chapel Hill to pick strawberries. Though apparently there are several in the area, we went to the Waller family farm http://www.wallerfamilyfarm.com. You can buy pre-picked strawberries by the quart or by the gallon or you can pick them yourself for $1.45 a lb. Of course, the reason you drive out there is for the exquisite taste of fresh strawberries that you have picked yourself (yes, they do taste better)-- so you pick them. We got our mud shoes on (there has been a lot of rain here lately) and ventured out for a real agricultural experience. It was soo fun! It totally reminded me of home. It reminded me of all those mornings out picking beans in the garden. The bending over for long periods of time and checking under the leaves to make sure you haven’t missed any. Thank you mom and dad for having a garden when we were young! Those are such great memories, and we cultivated more than vegetables in our backyard. It was good honest hard work, and delicious food too!

I’m really glad I went. It was therapeutic. Especially in all the hustle and bustle, all the stress and hurry of modern life, it felt great to get back to the land. I know that’s cliché, but it’s still true. Sure, it was only for 20 minutes or so, but it was really fun. And yes, I am aware that my experience was very tailored to the benefits of that lifestyle, but I came away a believer. It was so free and easy out there. Just you, the plants and the dirt ---and the dirt doesn’t judge.

Needless to say, I got carried away. In all those bean-picking years, I have really perfected my technique and in 20 minutes I had picked a quarter of a row (they were long rows) and a little over 5 lbs. for our small family. We’ll likely be having a lot of smoothies to use them all. 

Claire was excited about being there for the “berries”, but wasn’t too keen on actually helping pick them, so I picked and she put them in the box. I briefly considered requiring her help in the picking, but she is still probably too young for that. Besides, I didn’t mind. I was having a ball.

Below is a picture of Claire and our haul. Hope everyone out there is doing great!

(This is Claire.)(No that is not Hillary's butt ...'er I mean "bum" in the background)