Strawberry Picking - A Family Tradition

Last weekend in Maryland, my mom, sister and I took Alex strawberry picking.

Berry picking is a tradition in my family that started generations ago. Every summer, my grandmother (my Busza) would take her daughters to the berry patch to pick for money. As the years passed and her daughters had families of their own, berry picking became a summer “must do”. While there, we made sure to sample plenty of the product—just to make sure they were good (they always were). After we were done picking, we would come home with our pickings and spend the day making everything from jam to strawberry pies to strawberry shortcake.

Delicious strawberries. So ripe and sweet!

A month ago, when we planned to go to Maryland over Father’s Day, we knew the boys were going golfing, so we decided it was time to introduce Alex to the art of berry picking. When we got to the farm—Mt. Airy U-Pick Farm—it was closed. We were devastated! We pulled over on the side of the road looking for another patch that could be open—our hearts were set on picking. All of a sudden, we heard a tapping on our window. We turned to see a gentleman on an old bike asking if we were there to pick. When we said we were, he did something so incredibly kind: He told us he would open the farm for us. He said the berries were a bit past their prime, but we didn’t care. We had the entire field to ourselves. Alex would run up and down the aisles, bringing berries to Busza and Amanda and myself. The farmer’s gesture of kindness meant so much to us—we were able to pass the berry picking tradition on to another generation.

No one in the field but us.

And, the berries were delicious! They were so ripe and sweet that they needed almost no additional sugar for the strawberry shortcake we made later that day.

After we weighed our strawberries to pay for them, the farmer told us he had a few fresh eggs that he recently collected—were we interested? Of course we were. So, we went home with two dozen fresh eggs, which my mom made into a quiche the next day (amazing).

But, the kindness of this farm was far from over. He saw Alex looking at the chickens and asked if he would like to feed them. And then he asked if Alex wanted to help collect the eggs from the chickens that day. We went into the coop and Alex peered into the hen’s nest; he startled the hen, which then jumped out and startled Alex. My sister ended up collecting the eggs—she said it was so neat to feel the warmth of the egg.

Feeding the chickens.

Two freshly laid eggs.

The collection from the day.

We had such a lovely, idyllic morning at this farm, and the farmer’s kindness to us was overwhelming—you don’t often see such benevolence, especially living in NYC. We will only be picking berries at this farm from now on!

If you live in the Maryland area, this farm is a “must do” for summer. Run there in mid-May.