Berry picking: An annual tradition

It's berry time! Well, acutally, the first of the seasonal berries made their appearance last month and we headed out to Krause to grab our share. And what a share it was...these were some of the most perfect, plump, juicy red strawberries I've ever seen in my life!

Berry picking with a toddler is an event that could easily go awry. I started out with Abner strapped to my back, but quickly realized I have neither the physique nor the balance required to pull it off. Thankfully, by positioning one of us at either end of our assigned aisle, we were able to keep her penned in for the 15-20 minutes it took for TDSH and me to pick 12 lbs of strawberries. We love berries around here, so much so that a few years ago, we bought a small deep freezer for the sole purpose of storing a summers-worth of berries each year.

Abner loved picking berries herself too, of course, but had a little trouble with the idea of picking only the red ones. She kept grabbing the un-ripe white ones and proudly adding them to our buckets. Seeing her able to contribute and participate in a family outing like this is amazing. She's so independent and grown up now!

Raspberries are a little late this year thanks to the crappy weather we've been having. Hopefully we'll be out at Krause again soon to load up on some of those. I wonder how Abner will fare with the prickly raspberry kanes?