Went to our local Pick Your Own farm on Saturday afternoon, same place I got my asparagus from earlier in the year.
Ate as many raspberries and strawberries as I could manage (not sure if that is allowed :-[) and then took home about half a kilo of raspbs, and a kilo of strawbs and a handfull of new potatoes, all for the bargain price of £4.30! :D
Thank goodness I had help from (tall) Mr Moggle to reach the lovely ripe raspberries at the top! Huge rows of raspberries, must be at least 10-15 rows, each about 20 metres long :o At least 2 fields full of lovely ripe strawberries, with interesting plastic roofs, but open sides.
Gorged myself on raspberries and strawberries and cream, and raspberry and apple crumble for the rest of the weekend. Bliss ;D
I'm already planning another trip later in the week, as most of the ripe raspberries seemed to have already been picked. Time to stock up the fridge and freezer, and perhaps the cupboard with some jam :P :P :P :D
You are so lucky having a PYO so close Moggle. I think you should be weighed on your way in and again on your way out so they can total up what you have scoffed! My kids are as bad though.
I picked a big bowl full of gooseberrys and blackcurrants today, and I have loganberrys in the garden all rip and ready to go. I have a 'jam bag' in the freezer where all of the knocked about fruit ends up and then at the end of the season guess what I make... ::) plus the blackcurrants in a seperate bag to make currant jelly, if I can resist eating them as they are one of my faves. But what to do with the goosegogs? Going to have to raid the recipe books!
Berrys still to come....the wild brambles at the plot are smothered in flowers and bees and the elderberrys are swelling nicely. I will have about a 2 dozen rasps to come in a couple of weeks - their first year, and the blueberrys in the garden - if I can keep the birds off!
OH EJ I hate to be the one to tell you this.Gooseberries make the most delicious wine .You can make it sparkling also. :o 8) 8)Now i know that you aren't a big drinker where alcohol is concerned ;) ;) ;) but one or two glasses of this whilst the Sloe Gin matures tempting????????3lb will make you 1 gallon.
Gooseberry Fool......mmmmm......yummmmy :P
Yes EJ, I considered myself very lucky as I stuffed myself full of berries. :P I find it really hard to pay the extortionate prices that they charge in the supermarkets for not-particularly-good raspberries - usually over-ripe and mushy. I'm glad they didn't weigh me I would have had to pay twice as much :) Make that 3 times as much, Mr M scoffed as many as I did, probably more ;D
One of the features of my dream garden is a massive raspberry patch :D
Never had gooseberries before, I think there were some out at the PYO, so next time we visit, I may just give them a taste test.
BB, please post the recipe for your sparkly fruity wine, sounds lovely :D
Im stuffed full of berries again, we went to the PYO again after work. Much easier picking today, being a weekday, and a lot of people must have been put off for the last couple of days.
Main thing I wanted to comment on was the variety of strawberries we picked - Symphony. Mr Moggle and I both think they're the tastiest strawbs we've ever had! :) :P :P
They had loads and loads of runners, so I pinched off a couple that had a couple of little roots sticking out at the bottom, and I've planted them in little pots and I'm hoping that they'll survive. :-\