Pickin' Little

I am a fruit nut.  A fruit loop.  A fruit cup?
I love fruit.  Whenever I go downtown to visit my friend Sara at her store I like to stop by Putnam Market to see if they have fruit in their salad buffet.  If they do it's the best day ever.  If they don't (and they usually don't) I spiral into a deep, dark depression from which there is no return.  Actually, then I just buy a Flake bar and I'm fine. 


Christina and I went berry picking yesterday.  This was our second outing after the mind-blowing strawberry picking we did earlier in the summer at Hand Melon Farm in Schuylerville, NY.  They had rows upon rows of strawberries.  There were many different varieties with exotic names like "Honeoye" and  "Cavendish".  We ended up gorging ourselves and coming away with more berries than we knew what to do with. 

Shortcakes too!

Yesterday we headed south of Saratoga to Malta Ridge Farms, formerly Bowman Orchards North.  It's a cute little stand which seems to be in the middle of the country even though it's just a few miles away from town. 

 

It was a perfect Saratoga summer day--75 degrees and sunny--a precious thing, especially this summer.  The summer of RAIN.

As we headed out with our bags it seemed as though we had come at an in-between time for the blueberries.  The ripe ones seemed to have all been picked and the unripe ones were, well, unripe. 

 

Unripe, but beautiful.

We were getting a little bummed out. (I, fruit freak, was starting to panic a little.)  Then we walked down a row and saw where all the berries had gone.  This guy had them!!

 

He had been picking for the last couple hours for the owners who were going to make pies and breads out of them.  He was so sweet and told us where we could find some ripe ones.  I asked to take his picture and he agreed if I promised to tell my husband that he was just someone who worked at the farm.  He seemed very concerned about this.  

So we managed to pick enough for our needs.  Christina ended up with about 1/2 lb.  I grossed over 1 lb.  That's about on par.  She complained that I picked way faster than her.  I told her it was on account of my freakishly small hands.  That, and I'm a glutton.  But who can blame me at $2 per pound! 

Various types of bees were out picking their own as well.

As we left we sized up the apples ripening for fall.  So gorgeous!

 

If you have the chance to go berry picking, you must, MUST.  It's the best way to spend a summer hour and you get loads of yummy fruit for nearly 1/4 the price of anywhere else.  My hard earned wages:

yesssssss!

And fall bearing raspberries...

 you're next.

byeeee