A Berry Nice Adventure

My boys and I love to take day trips on weekends. We don't have to go far, but we like to travel to nearby towns and explore. These trips are some of our favorite adventures. This past Saturday we went to Reed Valley Orchard. It was 23 miles each way--driveway to driveway. This drive was so very enjoyable. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous! Sidenote: I never realized how many tobacco fields there are in Kentucky...

Anyway, we started out our Saturday at the farmer's market--like we do almost every Saturday. Every week we buy blueberries from the same vendor: Reed Valley Orchard. They have the most delicious, melt in your mouth blueberries I have ever tasted. We asked a few questions and discovered they have self-pick available on their orchard. So we decided our day trip for the week would be this particular orchard.

Reed Valley has options available for picking troughout spring, summer, and fall. Depending on what's in season, the options can be limitless. They have one big building with a bakery, shop, self-pick weigh in, and check out. This building has a huge wrap-around porch that's covered with rocking chairs and picnic tables. They make their guests feel so cozy and welcome--even in the crazy heat of July.
The Eli man helped himself to a rocking chair. He climbed on up and plopped himself down. Once settled in his chair, he looked at me, stuck out his hand and said, "juice." My poor guy was so thirsty! We walked down to the blueberry field, which was really very close. They keep it covered in netting to keep birds out, but it really adds a visual appeal as well. This is just a little of the berry area, but isn't it cute?
My boys roamed about throughout the rows and helped me pick. I am so blessed with these good looking guys in my life! They were so much fun!

Before we were there long at all, Eli discovered that while his dad was leaning in to pick, he could reach too. He picked and picked and ate and ate. He would pick off a cluster at a time, pick the berries off, and eat them. When his cluster ran out, he'd say, "PEEEEAAASSSSE!" There were more manners applied for berries than I've seen him use for anything else. The child LOVES berries!
We had such a good day! When we quit picking, with our bucket overflowing, we went to weigh in. We picked about six pounds of berries...though the picture below really doesn't do justice.

I love the outings with my boys! Now I just need to wash, freeze, store, and bake with these yummy little jewels!

Lingering thought of the day: If a berry will fall off the stem without any force, it's ripe and sweet. If the stem is mostly green (and lacking in pink), it's probably a good indication that the berry is ripe.