Picking Local Organic Strawberries and Why!!!

The beauty of local-organic produce!

Hello everyone. I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog. Expect updates probably more than once a week for the next 3-5 weeks because I have a plethora of blogs floating around in my head not-so-patiently waiting to be released to the virtual world.

This blog is about local, organic strawberries and my adventure picking them here in Central New York. On Tuesday, June 15, my brother Shawn and his adorable 4-year old son Blaze and a few of our friends headed out to Cobblestone Valley Farm to pick strawberries after work.

When we arrived at Cobblestone Valley Farm, there were several other pickers of all ages; a neat sight to see! We had our buckets weighed and were ready to go. The first two rows of about 10 rows in total were ready to be picked. I hadn’t been strawberry picking since I was a kid and I never remember it being so much work. I very well could have been more of a strawberry-pointer-outer like Blaze as opposed to a strawberry picker. We picked for an hour and a half straight leaving my hands all scratched up and my back achin’ from hunching over. Let me tell you, I admire those who do this for a job. I can not imagine doing this all day long; it saddens me that so many farm workers in the United States get paid such low wages for this intensive work and for those who work on non-organic farms, they have a major health risk with pesticide exposure. A great organization that promotes social justice for farm workers is located here.

At any rate, I did end up with four pounds of strawberries for only $10---what a deal and I was ecstatic about the fact that they were organic. I will only eat strawberries if they are organic; if they are not organic, chances are that they are extremely contaminated with pesticides. The Environmental Working Group ranks strawberries as one of the dirty dozen, which you should always buy organic. Print out the shoppers guide to pesticides in produce here.

I will be enjoying these strawberries for weeks in my smoothies!

The strawberries I picked were so delicious. Brent and I enjoyed some fresh and froze a bunch. Our smoothies have never been so delicious! Thank you Cobblestone Valley Farm! If you live in Central New York and want local, organic strawberries---give them a call (607-749-4032) and see if they still have strawberries available. Their website says they may have them available through July 4^th

No matter where you live, visit pickyourown.org to find berry picking farms near you! In the Northeast United States, the next available berries will be blueberries (July-August). Have fun! When you go local, you are supporting farmers right in your own community; it doesn't get much better than that.