Berries WHAT?!
I think I was just as excited as Ethan to head out to the berry farm today. This particular farm is about 45 minutes away, has over a dozen varieties, and is a no spray/going organic farm. I’m not sure if the best part is that they have REAL toilets (as opposed to porto-johns!) or that all berries are…. drum roll please… $1.35/lb!!!
I don’t know about where you are, but organic berries run me anywhere from $3 – $6/ lb. at the grocery store, and I don’t even get the amazing experience of walking through the fields and selecting the perfect berries with my son. It was beautiful. I can’t wait to go back!
I took off early this morning with a gal who organizes the homeschool preschool meetups on Fridays and her 4 year old son, with Misty and her two kids following behind us. Ethan ended up getting car sick (my kids are SERIOUSLY not used to the car LOL) and we pulled over twice to clean up regurgitated banana. Yum! Once there, Ethan sucked down an italian soda and wayyyy toooooooo many berries while picking. We ended up with 12 pounds EASY – and if I had known that I could use one of their little red wagons to carry my buckets, I would have likely done a lot more than that!
Afterward we all went to a little Vietnamese sandwich shop where I had a tasty grilled chicken banquette sandwich for $2.95. How awesome is that?!
Upon returning home, Ethan made it all the way to the house, got out of the car, and barfed up berries all over the sidewalk. Yum again! Back inside he was promptly made some brown rice in chicken broth, which seems to have done the trick. He helped me sort through jars to store the Lavendar Marionberry Jam I made, while I rinsed and froze the rest of the berry assortment. Among the berries we picked were: traditional blackberries, “Cascade Delight” raspberries, blond raspberries called “aimes” I think, Marionberries, Tayberries (a delicious rasp/black hybrid), Loganberries, Boysenberries, and a few others I can’t remember. The blueberries weren’t quite ready, so we’ll be headed back out there in a week or so, you can bet on that!
Pictures below…
10 comments
WOW!! I soooooo wanna go!! My mom lives in Portland, how come I don’t know about this place?? I’m totally telling her about it and gonna try to make a day date of it. $1.35/lb??? Are you kidding me??!! WOW.
Jenny- I am NOT kidding about 1.35/lb – I would not joke about something so amazing. LOL
It’s out in the Hillsboro/Halls Blvd area so it may even be closer to you than you think! Oh you and Vienne would LOVE it! I’m going to try to get the Hubs to go with me next Friday with a Zipcar or something. Mmmm…
lol Looks like you had so much fun! love the leg warmers on Verity.
Hey, I am planning to head there again on Thursday.
Hi, Vivian!
I love berry picking too, and we have an abundance of fresh farms out in the Gorge/East Gresham area too–one of my favs, Armstrong’s Blueberries. They’re a u-pick blueberry farm and only charge $.80 a pound!!! Not sure about the no spray/organic stuff–but what a sweet deal! Just thought I’d pass it on to you. Have a great summer.
Heidi
Oh, one more thing…there are lots of berry pickin’ farms (strawberries, raspberries, etc.) that are in the price range of $.99 lb…I’ve noticed the west side locations are a bit more spendy. Just my two cents
Too bad I’m not visiting this month…I want to go berry picking!
Well it looks like there will be some things still in early September- so I don’t see any reason we can’t go back!
Thanks for the tip, Heidi! We are definitely big on making sure the berries aren’t sprayed, (berries are one of the highest in pesticide residue, and with two preschoolers and two nursing mamas in the house we really want to live as chemical free as possible). I’ll look into farms on the east side and see if I can find one with a better price that is also no spray! If you hear of something, let me know!
Arg. I really want to take Chris too but he is only off on Friday, which is the homeschool preschool park day. Are you getting the minivan for Thursday!? I’m so excited to go back! Hopefully the blueberries will be available, lol.
Also, Misty- the Michael Jackson party tonight is supposedly going on all night, so call when you get out of scarlett cord and if we are still moonwalkin’ the night away, you better pop over!
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