Today we went for peaches (season just began) and raspberries (first time!). We learned that raspberry pushes are prickly ... and that the bees love them. Despite that fact, the kids reached for all the ripest berries, even if they had to push a bee out of the way to get to it. There was also plenty of tasting going on. Sometimes its a wonder we even come home with anything...
To get to the peaches we had to ride out on a tractor. We waited quite a bit for the tractor to arrive, but the kids were excited and thus fairly patient. Unfortunately, the wait was even longer on the way back. Because we had already picked raspberries and peaches, and it was a hot day, they were slightly less patient. There were lots of whines and whimpers and grumbles. However, once the wagon showed up they forget it all and the smiles were ear to ear (Mom and Dad did not forget quite as easily).
While raspberries were on a bush the kids just plucked from (while avoiding thorns and bees), the peaches were buried within the trees a bit. To get the best ones, the kids really had to crawl into the trees and pull hard. Since they're proficient pickers, this was an easy task.
Each time we have gone picking I've used the fruit to make a cobbler or a crisp. Each time the kids rejected it and I ended up eating all of it (well, Jeff helps a bit). This time I didnt even have Brooke try it because the sight of her gagging on my baking is a bit depressing. Ryan is a bit more willing to try (and appreciate new things) so I had him take a bite. He freaked out and spit it out ... right back into my bowl :(
