Summer Reflection #25: Berry Goodness
Just like over the last few years, it is that season again, though it is a little earlier in the year than it has been in previous years. The berry-picking season for strawberries has already come and gone far earlier than normal, and now, the raspberries are out and about and that is what we went after.
32 containers/ 8.5 kg = €66
Plus whatever we ate as we picked.
That is a bargain and it is always a bit of fun to do it as a family each year and this time, Smallsteps was smashing it. She was far more capable this year and was filling as fast as her parents, though she had an advantage - she didn't eat as many as us.
These will likely last us at least through the winter and perhaps even all the way until next season, as we did about the same amount last year and we still have two small containers left - which we just found in our chest freezer, otherwise they probably would have been eaten in the last few weeks too.
The raspberries are incredibly sweet, but once they are frozen they become much more tart, so we sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar into the box before freezing. Though of course, for the next couple days we have a few boxes that we can have fresh, and right after I finish writing this, we will drop a couple boxes to my in-laws so they can enjoy some of them too, since they are too old to go picking themselves these days.
There are these kinds of farms all over Finland that people take advantage of, and of course they sell their produce in stores and marketplaces also. This time of year there is a lot of fantastic berries that have taken advantage of the very short growing season and the long days to become super sweet. In August and September, the bilberries (wild blueberries) will be in season too, and we will likely grab a few of those as we walk around the forest, but not enough to store. However, they are always easy and cheap to get from the store all year round.
For now though porridge, yoghurt or ice cream in our house won't suffer being berry-less for a while.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
This is so cute, your baby is adorable.
That really is a great deal on those berries! Upicks are great for gathering up enough to preserve until next season. It makes it all the more special because the whole family is involved. When you go to eat them in the middle of winter they will be tastier because of the memory attached lol. Very wholesome activity.
They were around about half the price of instore raspberries, so that is pretty good and it was a nice hour or two :)
It is funny how Smallsteps brings it up that we picked these ones almost every time. Her grandma sometimes does the blueberries around their place and gives us some and they become "mummi's blueberries" :D
Those memories will stay with her most likely all her life. Plus the fact that she helped to procure that food and brought it home to preserve for leaner times....good lessons there!
I'm new here but this is a pretty awesome blog man. You daughter looks awesome and strawberries are my favorite. Definitely going to be a happy house with the berries
Welcome to Hive! I really hope you will have a good time here exploring the many great blogs and things to do. What brought you in originally?
Thank you man, I kinda stumbled on this thing called Inleo from a blog online about Web 3.0 stuff.. pretty confused about so much but people are already teaching me some stuff here so hopefully I'll get the hang of it .. wait I just saw this em 0.23 cents is that like what the blog meant by earning 🤔 it's pretty real to me now thanks a lot and it seems the number on the Rep stuff increased that's pretty sweet
Beautiful faces 🥰. Berries aren't much available in my country. Maybe our climate doesn't support their growth. But I always love the products made out of them
I don't know where you are, but here it is very cold and nothing grows most of the year, and then for a couple months, nature comes alive.
Here in Canada, they have sort of fairs where interested citizens go to the different farms and pick the fruit they want to take with them. The prices are usually below 50% of the market price.
I love the photos that are taken with the lenses unnoticed, because for me, they are very natural and fresh…
https://images.ecency.com/p/26uUsAjKTsXCDw7zixZR182JbFKvgzJ9YwsFpTVcRaGCmsqhA1unTgprHGZr92j2SrTTU3UamXAScqKtZonve9KXCjsDYAN7q5V5Dod8XGUUA36G7CZkkeiq8wd1kgGRp4T1ERGN856BkTVDsB85cYiHo82Chg9HMDK7oL.webp?format=webp&mode=fit
The prices workout about the same here too, with a 50-60% discount of instore.
I point at things and make them look at stuff :)
The harvest from the sour-cherry tree in our backyard was not as good as that of the previous year despite rainy and sunny days.
Our sour cherry trees have some fruit, but not that much - however, the big one has hardly any leaves! I hope it isn't dying. I think I will need to prune it.
Dear @tarazkp !
Is your family paying to pick strawberries from someone else's farm?
Are the strawberries your family picks from the farm cheaper than the market price?
Not paying to pick, but paying for what we picked. They weigh it at the end and charge per kilo. They are about half the price of instore berries at the moment, but the price will go up as the season runs out.
It is a great blessing because what you have on hand in other countries is a bit expensive, I prefer to eat it with condensed milk.
Condensed milk! I don't even know if that is available here. I used to love it as a kid.
Great pics, I wish we had something like that around here, I hate buying out berries in those plastic containers that end up in the landfill.
We do have a free apple orchard though. In a few it will be time to take a trip up there and load up on apples and take a hike along the trails while we're there.
That sounds like a nice day out also. We have a couple apple trees in the yard, but they don't make the greatest eating apples, however we could take them to a place to have them pressed into apple juice. Haven't done that yet though.
I got into juicing for a while, even got a nice cold press juicer but hate cleaning the dang thing. but will probably break it out again soon anyways
Oh, by the way, these are still in plastic boxes, but we reuse them until they are unusable before putting them in the plastic recycling bin :)
That's good, I wonder if they are different then the plastic the stores use here. I don't think they accept them in the recycling bins my city provides.
Your wife and kid seem to have fun while picking those.
Nice pictures!
We have blueberry farms like that around where I live. They were always fun to visit when I was a kid. I haven't been to one in years though. I keep telling my wife I need to take her to one, but we haven't done it in 15 years yet! :)
You should totally do it. I think that she will enjoy it more than she thinks she will!
I know, I know...
This is like a great activity and I’m sure you all had a nice time
Happy Summer!
Pleasant day at the raspberry farm. I also froze several kilograms of raspberries and my wife made 10 jars of jam. My youngest son loves to eat cottage cheese with raspberry jam.
Oh the great memories about berry picking summer days in my grandmas home... Such great moments! Thank you for sharing
Raspberry picking is so fun. Great way to enjoy fresh berries all year brother. Look at smallsteps looking like a scientist picking her samples heheheh awesome little one, growing up so quickly.. nice work brother
Annual berry pickings sounds like a great family tradition. Especially if you manage to get your entire season worth of berries in that 😄
That's awesome. I haven't done any pickings but this looks like a fun annual family event. I don't think I can eat that much in a year, but the experience would be worth it. I'm guessing the prices are also cheaper compared to buying them at the store? I wonder if it is a big difference, since you're getting it straight from the source.
Amazing Berry.. Will love to have taste
Absolutely wonderful post. This is a kind of post I wish I could also write and have such fantastic shots that you just make the reader want to admire. 🍓