Friday Favorites: Strawberry Picking

Each Friday I want to talk about something that I absolutely loved this week. I want to highlight something material, delicious, or an experience or activity that brought me or my family joy. My Friday Favorites are things that enrich my life and make my life easier, exciting, or generally happy. This week’s Friday Favorites highlights my first experience strawberry picking!

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It has been really hard to get out of the house these days. I can’t even believe today is May 1st. I think this marks the most unremarkable and least memorable April of my life. Being a homebody by nature I didn’t mind quarantine in the beginning. But now? I’m starting to feel like a recluse, cheated even. Cheated out of the experiences of my baby’s first year.

I want to do things with Danny, share experiences and activities with him. We made it to ONE music class before everything shut down. Story time at the library has also obviously been suspended. We are immensely fortunate that we are ALL healthy and that Dave continues to work. I am incredibly grateful for that, but I still am mourning the loss of memory making with my baby as my year with him runs down the clock.

Regardless, I want to talk about the time we actually DID get out of the house this week. It is strawberry season here in North Carolina and they are ripe for the picking! Lucky for us, this is an outdoor activity that is already conducive to social distancing. The buckets are brand new, fields aren’t crowded or over-picked, and the girls taking money are vigilant.

We had SO much fun! I underestimated how much fun we would have and how good we would feel getting some sun and fresh air. It was so warm and there was a strong breeze and it felt SO good. If you can, I strongly suggest getting outside it really made me feel so much better about the state of the world. If you are local, Porter Farms is the place to go for strawberries! Summer is coming, and hopefully so is good news along with it.

Strawberry picking brought up a lot of nostalgic feelings of living in New York during apple picking season. Apple season is hands down one of my favorite times of the year and really is probably the only time I actually miss New York. Fresh apples off the tree, hot cider donuts paired with ice cold rich apple cider. Basically heaven. Apple crisp, apple cake, apple pie, I can’t wait for the fall. I won’t get too far ahead of myself, I’m hoping for a pleasant summer too.

Alas, we really enjoyed ourselves. It was an easy and short experience where we got outside, enjoyed the company of one another, and got a little dirt and strawberry juice on our hands. Fruit is coming into it’s big harvest season so if you have the opportunity and are able to go where you live, go get some fresh stuff right off the tree, vine, or shrub. Stay tuned for our first peaches, blackberries, and blueberry picking experiences! I’m off to make some pound cake for my strawberry shortcake!

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