Berries anyone????

Tuesday morning, the forecast was overcast with a chance of sun in the afternoon. Auntie Mar had decided to go in to work with Uncle Mark so that meant that the girls and I would have a car to use. One of the activities that I had really enjoyed from last summer was berry picking and I knew that this would be something that I would want to do again this year and today seemed like a perfect chance. Unfortunately I couldn't remember the name of the farm we had visited. In the age of Google, all I had to do was put in what I wanted to do and I found my answer. I found this great website, meetup.com. You can find social groups in your area who are looking to do things together ranging from playdates to speed dating. I found a mom's group in Lake Oswego who had recently visited Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island (http://www.krugersfarmmarket.com/) and had mentioned how much they liked the farm. This seemed like a good choice.

We began our trip late morning, around 11:00. I knew we might run into some hunger issues but I didn't think that this should hold us back. I let each girl pick out a bag of animal crackers and I snuck a couple Special K bars in my purse just in case. I got directions from the Kruger website and it seemed easy enough.

Have I mentioned that I am known for getting lost? Well, yet again, we started on I-5 and followed my notes onto Rt. 30 (St. Helen's Road). The problem with the notes I had taken was that I did not include how long I was on roads for. It seemed like we were on 30 for-ev-er. I started to get worried. We were going through a very industrial area and I couldn't help but wonder where would a farm be around here. I continued to see signs for Mount St. Helens and just had a gut feeling that we were lost. I pulled off to the side of the road and called Auntie Mar to see if she could 1. figure out where we were, 2. see if we were on the right track, and 3. tell me if we were close. She was able to answer all my questions 1. we were in Litton, 2. we were going the right way, and 3. we had about 10 miles to go.

We arrived at the farm within 15 minutes and the girls were ready to pick berries. We found a small red wagon and got eight small baskets to fill. We knew that the farm was advertising that they had raspberries and blueberries but I had a feeling they might have a couple more types. My first complaint about this farm (and probably my only one) is that there are no signs directing us to the berries. I had to guess what kind of berries we were picking.

Our first stop was some kind of dark berry-either marionberry (my first gut thought), blackberry, or boysenberry. My mini taste testers assured me that they were delicious, whatever kind of berry they were. We filled two pints full of these juicy berries.

Next stop was the blueberry bushes. The girls were slightly distracted at this time since they had spotted the raspberries which are their favorite berry. Blueberries are also tough because it takes more work to fill a pint since they are smaller than the other types of berries. It's also hard when more end up in your mouth then in the bucket. The evidence could be seen on their lips and fingers.

Next on the trail were the most anticipated raspberries. The result left us disappointed. There weren't that many on the bushes and those that were there were kind of sour. We ended up with only one pint of berries from this section of the farm.

We found one more section to try out. Here we came across more "black berries." What type exactly, we don't know. We do know they tasted good so we got one more pint of berries to make an even six.

I think the girls had as much fun pulling the wagon as they did picking the berries. We went to the farm house to pay and some fresh cherries caught my eye. I put some of those in a bag and let the girls pick out two honey sticks each. Gwynn picked sour raspberry and cinnamon while Paige went with sour grape and mint. I also found some farm-made sweet walla walla onion salad dressing and some sweet pepper and apple relish that I thought I would try.

The fruit of our labor!

After our berry picking adventure we headed home. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about he drive home. I get a little confused by north and south, east and west, when I am in an unfamiliar area. Luckily all my guesses were corrected and we ended up back on I-5 headed home. We stopped for a quick bite at Quizno's and Coldstone for dessert (did you know they have a new flavor called Blueberry Muffin Batter...mmm).

Auntie Mar came home with news that she was going to go to a walk in clinic for a rash she had on her back. Uncle Mark had a baseball game. And I had plans with my boys, the Red Sox. The excitement of the night was that we learned that the rash on Auntie Mar's back wasn't really a rash but shingles. Crazy, right?!?!? The same virus that causes chickenpox gave Auntie Mar her headache on Saturday, her markings on her back and under her arm, and her swollen lymph nodes. Needless to say I think she'll be in some pain for a while (probably until we head back east next week) and she'll be tired. I hope she feels better soon. ;)