Berry Picking

Last summer we bought an outside freezer and started stocking it. One of the major projects was to pick a bunch of strawberries and freeze them so we could make fruit smoothies all year, which we did. But during the year I regretted not getting some other berries. Especially blueberries because Jared loves them so much and they freeze well. So this summer I've been on a mission to collect all the berries we could.

First I found a cherry tree on an empty lot a couple blocks away from our house. They started getting ripe in July, so we picked a bunch. They're pie cherries so they're not good for just eating straight, but they've made some good cherry lemonade and chocolate cherry pastries.
Jared helped pit cherries. He love that! Especially the cool sound it makes and I suspect the mess!

Next, we went strawberry picking several times. I think strawberry picking is the hardest since you have to crouch down, but they're worth it because they're so good. And there's nothing quite like the sweetness of Oregon strawberries!

Next, we picked raspberries at the end of July. Those are Nathan's favorite and he started picking them when I was still trying to get strawberries! While she was in town, Erin went with me picking raspberries and helped me get tons!

I think her help was pretty invaluable.
This month blueberries became ripe. I've never actually gone blueberry picking since I don't particularly like them, but they're totally easy to pick! I didn't take the camera with me on the one time we went, but I should have because it was a perfect evening!
Right now blackberries are perfect so I've been going to get them with the kids. There are tons of blackberry plants all over town growing wild so we can get them for free. My favorite place is near a church where they used the bushes as a barrier from the field next to it, so there are tons of them right in a row.
Am I they only one who likes to eat blackberries by putting one on top of my tongue and smashing it against the roof of my mouth?
The kids have always come with me picking, but they're not much help. Kayla's good for at least a few minutes of real picking. Look how many blackberries she got on her own!
Jared tends to eat way more berries than he picks. He was especially a hinderance on our most recent blackberry run because he got scratched and whined about it for the rest of the time.
I told him I'd take a picture of his scratch so everyone could see the sacrifice he's made for our food storage caused.

We got probably got 6 lbs of cherries, 20 lbs of strawberries, 27 lbs of raspberries, 10 lbs of blueberries (I think I'll get some more of those) and 10 lbs of blackberries. A nice stash!