365 Things to Do in Colorado Springs ~ Day 49 Pick Your Own Strawberries

A few posts ago I held a discussion about Putting Up/home canning. Touching on some of the reasons there seems to be a renassance of sorts towards simpler living, we did not touch on one area. That is the organic food, farm-to-table, and home garden movement. When food tastes so good at its peak, we want to savor that flavor forever. Home canning can help us achieve that more than what we would likely be able to get out of a supermarket shelf. For those who don’t have the time or space to tend a garden, there is one more solution for you.

Pick Your Own Farms are sprouting up from traditional farms and some CSA farms allow Pick-Your-Own times. One farm that I recently visited for strawberry picking is in Brighton, CO. Berry Patch Farms is owned and operated as a small-family business which has a small farm stand selling seasonal fruits and vegetables, fresh-from-the-hen eggs, and areas for school groups to come in and learn about the workings of a farm with a petting area. The site lists when foods are in season, and which foods are pick-you-own, and which they simply sell from the farm stand. The farm stand should be called more like a store since it is indoors and much larger than a stand, complete with a cooler for sensitive veggies like lettuces and for the eggs.

There are also farms up & down the front range that offer strawberry (and other fruit) picking. Here is a great statewide website

There are several books available to give you step-by-step instructions on food preserving, and recipes to follow if it’s your first time and Grandma won’t hand over the recipes yet. If you want to make large batches, consider enlisting a friend or two, then split up the makings evenly.

ShareThis