And picked it!
With the rains threatening, we got to the farm and began picking the berries, even with a few slivers of sunshine breaking through the gathering clouds. I of course started with a raspberry breakfast and must have eaten at least two containers of them or more by the time we were done, but that is part of the fun. You pay a "picking fee" which covers what is eaten also, before weighing the final results.
Final Tally:
7.1 kilos (~16lb)
Not including the contents of our stomachs.
It is a really pretty view from this farm, as it over looks a lake filled with little islands and hills in the distance, as well as having plenty of strips of flowers planted throughout the fields to maximise the bee population to pollinate the berries.
We were a bit earlier than we normally go, so there was a lot of unripe berries still, but since they ripen in stages, there were still plenty for us to pick and it took us about an hour to gather what we got, with the final price being around 78€ - which at 32€ a kilo in the shop, would have cost us about 227€ this year. The prices are higher than other years, because they have rejected 90% of the visa applications for foreign berry pickers, and Finns won't do it as a job.
A lot of berries are going to rot in the forests.
They also have a store there to buy berries, as well as cakes and other local products, but we only dug into some ice cream, which was pretty awesome and the serving size generous. Though, on a full raspberry belly, cramming in what my wife and daughter couldn't eat was a task - but I managed.
We would also normally get strawberries from the same place, but we haven't picked them the last couple years, opting to buy them from the famer stalls instead, We don't eat as many and we bought 5 kilos for the freezer the other day.
And these young sheep were pretty funny, bleating together and prancing about while they were eating, gave Smallsteps some giggles. The carer came to feed them something more and they went crazy screaming, and she said every time she goes near them they do this, like they haven't eaten in a week.
And my wife liked this little van, as well as some of the other farm cars. she hasn't been around farms much, but they tend to use a lot of old stuff until it is unusable, so seeing an older man drive around on a peewee 50 made her laugh.
And while we ate our ice cream after picking, we saw the rain coming ever-closer, but it didn't rain on us. In fact, it didn't rain on us until we got home a half hour later, *and now it is absolutely pouring down. Smallsteps went on her bike to visit a friend and must have got drenched.
Summer dries.
But at least we got our berry pilgrimage in for another year and can now enjoy raspberries fresh for a few days, and then frozen through the autumn and winter. We also dropped a couple boxes over to our elderly neighbours, as is our tradition each year when we get stuff, because they can no longer do it themselves. They really enjoy it, and we will likely get a few tomatoes in trade once they are ripe in a few weeks.
Not a bad morning's work all up.
Taraz
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I've been wanting to take my wife to a blueberry farm for a while now, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Looks like you had a blast!
Blueberries should be coming into season soon there, right? Go!!!!
You know, I honestly don't know!
Few days ago I bought some cherries. The price is much better now than it was a few weeks/ a month ago. Now 1 kg only cost 6.50(?) eur. I could get them even cheaper in the shop(I buy them in vegetable stall). But in the shop most of them are crushed. So in this case paying a bit cheaper is not really much better option. I don't buy cherries as offten as I would like but sometimes they are too tempting to resist.
Cherries are great! I love them too. The shops sell sweet cherries, which are far better. But unfortunately our trees are sour cherries.
It seems that in Finland, people don't usually plant raspberries near their homes. I have a lot of raspberries in my garden; my wife made jam and compote for the winter and froze some berries, yet there are still plenty left in the garden. When I visit the garden, I only eat cherries and a few blackcurrants—I don't really want raspberries anymore :)
There are lots with raspberries in their homes, but we don't have any anymore. We will put some back at some point, but when we landscaped the garden we had to get rid of what we had.
Did you get a lot of cherries? Our two trees (one small one large) are full this year, after a very heavy prune last autumn.
Yes, we have six cherry trees. I don't think we've done anything to them for about five years; my wife sprayed them with tobacco dust and tar a few times.
Interesting, here in Washington state we never paid a picking fee only for what you pick...
Here you get the fee minused from the picking total. It is just so people don't go in and eat a lot, and buy nothing.
Yum! Raspberries for breakfast sounds so good. Wish I had that..
Do you own any animals besides your dog?
I ate a lot. They are awesome.
Just a dog for us. That is enough for now :)
That was a good harvest, and sharing some with your neighbours made it even better. We don't have berry farms like this where I live, so I enjoyed seeing it. Do the frozen raspberries still taste almost as fresh in winter?
Umm, they taste similar, but a bit more sour after freezing. To take that away, we sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar over them before freezing. And of course, the structure changes a bit, but they are still fantastic.
Your blog reminds me of how farm-to-table experiences are designed to connect people with the land, letting them savor freshness while appreciating the effort behind each harvest.
Yeah - I wish more people would d at least a little of the work themselves.
I think, sometimes, seeing the fruits of our efforts is all we need to be motivated for the bigger ones.
Yeah, i think so too. So much of today's activity is blind to us.
I'm glad the rain was patient on you, until you got home.. the berries looks so fresh, i hope it taste good?
They taste awesome!
You can make berry cream spread tht uou can spread on toast every morn...
I might make some jam this year with the cherries :)
What a delightful and energetic report
I think I was in that field with you
Good to hear. Do you ever do something similar where you are?
We once bought 360 kilos of grapes with our friends and made wine
I picked some raspberries for The Mother Thing today. Her patch suddenly decided "It's time to make everything ripe all at once." I nearly filled a half-gallon bucket, so if you'll allow the measurement mish-mash, it was about two liters of berries.
Berries yum yum 😊
If you don't already know how to forage maybe you should :D
Yay for being able to make it out!