Summer Fruit
My young son, picking raspberries in a friend’s garden.
In June my kids would start asking, "Is it time yet?" They wanted to know if it was time to go picking, if the strawberries were ripe, or if we has missed them and had to wait for the raspberries and blackberries, and for the high bush blueberries we loved.
We picked our own fruit every summer, on farms in New Jersey and New York, just west or north or east of New York City. We would come home with baskets and trays heavy with fruit for making jam, muffins, cakes, cookies, and pancakes. We gifted our homemade jam to friends and neighbors, dentists and doctors, grandparents and teachers, sometimes with ribbon-attached recipes or poems or photos of the kids picking or canning. Even now that they are adults, I know they can smell summer coming, with the faint wafting of fresh fruit that only a summer breeze can bring.
In this high-tech era it is even more important than ever to introduce the concept of earth-to-table. Children who grow up in urban environments and only shop at enormous supermarkets might think that orange juice grows in cans, and chickens never squawk or eat worms. Discovering the truth about where our food comes from and how it is raised will give us a new respect for these ingredients and a deeper understanding of our bodies and the world at large.
If you want your children to appreciate their food, take them to a farm and encourage them to pick those fruits and veggies themselves! Consider growing your own vegetables and herbs in a window box or garden. Then engage your kids in selecting and creating recipes, preparing and cooking these foods.
If you can't head to the farm, then go to your local farmer's market and find out what's in season. Talk to the farmer and smell the fruit. Before your visit, you can read about the fruit or vegetable of the season, which is a great introduction for little kids.
After you go, have berry-lemonade, or fresh berries with yogurt or cream, or on waffles or salad, or just by the handful, for the next several days! Ahhh, summer!
Pick Your Own Farms
in New Jersey:
in New York State:
Halfway Acres in Cambell Hall, NY (about 90 minutes north of NYC), is a pick-your-own Organic Blueberry farm open to the public in July until all berries are gone (season is 3-4 weeks long). Family friendly, providing: buckets, containers and bags for taking home.
in the USA:
Recommended books:
Jamberry by Bruce Degen (for ages 1 - 6)
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (for ages 4 - 9)
The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord (for ages 4 - 9)
The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories by Barbara M. Walker (age 7 and up)
Fruits and Vegetables Coloring Book by Lynda E. Chandler (age 4 - adult)
Blog entries by parents about picking berries and making jam, with recipes: