Berry Picken'.....or Are they Us?

What a blast! When I graduated high school, my grandparents had me come stay with them in Michigan for a week. It was another one of those special memories. Grandpa wanted to go berry picking. We got up so early....to beat the heat. We had buckets to pick blackberries, strawberries and raspberries. It was so much fun, even if my arms were covered in scratches and my fingers felt like they had thrones in them. We then went to breakfast at THEIR favorite resturant! (Red Barron) Later, Grandma made dessert with our treasures. My parents came to Detroit a week later and got to enjoy the "Fruits of our Labor."

My parents heard of a berry farm outside of Huntsville and decided that we were going to take the kids to experience the things we loved most from the garden. My mom made us laugh because she said she hated picking as a kid due to coming in daily from school and then having to pick. So, this isn't what she considered FUN. Mom loves the fruit, so now its knowing what comes of her picking, that made it exciting to her.

We knew what to be prepared for and we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Most berry patches have brush grown up around the bottoms of the plants. The vines are out of control and there is little room between rows. These farmers had it so clean, bushes clipped so nicely and tons of room in between rows. They also gave us gloves and buckets and walked with us to show us the "better berries" of their farm. The kids loved it. We had our own gloves and the kids thought they were so big! The Farmer had a dog, Lacy, that made the hot afternoon fun. Lacy was a Border Colly and followed them around everywhere.

We went away with 17lbs. of blackberries and have plans to return this next weekend to pick blueberries. Camden is pumped! The Farmer showed him where they were and wanted him to taste the berry. Camden loved them. He kept running back and forth with a few in hand as refreshments to us pickers. They were wonderful! So watch for our next berry trip!