Wednesday 16 July 2008

Pick Your Own


As I drove into the car park of the local farm shop to buy some fruit and veg, I saw the sign PYO.

Yes "Pick Your Own Strawberries" it said.

And this is how I was led down the path of temptation.

Strawberry picking or going home to do the housework?

Hmmmm. Not difficult.

The housework could wait. The worst that would happen is chaos. If the strawberries aren't picked they'll go off and what a waste that would be. That was my excuse anyway, in the hope that Mr A would never use it as grounds for divorce.

The excuse for the morning was school assembly and I can't remember what Monday's was now. It seems so long ago. But you can see I am very easily led and distracted by things that are more exciting than the laundry. Always have been and I suppose I always will. No wonder there's always a depletion of pants, as highlighted in a former post!

So I spent the afternoon with Little T, picking some delicious strawberries and raspberries.

I envisaged it would be a great opportunity for some fantastic teamwork. Delicious time for mother and son bonding. However, I'm not sure if his contribution of sitting in my basket and watching me from the corner of the field mounted to a team effort, even if he insisted that he was looking after my things.

Surely with his height and a nose for strawberries, he would have the advantage. Instead he preferred the spectator sport of watching his mother crouch down among the strawberry plants to see how quickly she could fill the basket.

We are real fans of strawberries in our house and during an average week in summer, we can spend up to £10 on the delicious soft fruit that can't help but encapsulate sunny days. The basket that you see here contained about a kilo of strawberries and only cost £3.50. At our local Tesco Express I'd only get about 300g for the same price and it's not much cheaper on the market.

Using the PYO has also meant reduced packaging, with a basket that can be used time and time again. So it's a shame the farm's strawberry picking season is over next week. No sooner discovered than "disparu"... until next year that is. A good job really, as I'd never get any work done!

However on the subject of packaging I asked the owners of the PYO why strawberries need the annoying little piece of bubble wrap that normally sits at the bottom of punnets of strawberries that are sold in shops. It's become really fashionable of late.

They had no idea what benefit it served.

Which leaves me wondering whether it is needed after all?

Perhaps it's time to decide as I launch a brand new site called....

BIN 101.

So please click on the link to have a peek in the bin and tell me what you think of those little bits of bubble wrap

In the meantime, I'm off to rescue the housework situation before Mr A tells me it's strawberry fields forever.

No rest for the wicked eh!
________________________________________________________

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmmm, yum. I'm a raspberries girl myself and there's nothing like picking your own fruit to get a taste for the Good Life.

Glad you found something local to you, even if it is the last week.

You could always pick every day this week and freeze them all ;) (but don't tell Mr A I said that, he might just bring his dirty pants here for washing!)

Mrs G

Anonymous said...

I've been saving my fruity bubble wrap and patchworking the scraps together, to make a winter overcoat for the wormery. (The lengths people can be driven to in order to avoid landfill.)

Vashti said...

I wash the little bits of bubble wrap in with the washing up, hang them to dry and use them for packing stuff. Even if I don't use them, there's always someone on Freecycle who wants a bag of bubble wrap...

It is pointless in strawberries though.

Mel said...

Those strawbs look yummy!

I've just got back from a (wonderfully relaxing) holiday in France, & thought I'd share my rubbish experience there!

Recycling facilities were admirable, despite being very much out in the sticks - our gite had bins for glass, paper & plastics, (unfortunately nothing for food waste - though with two hungry men there was very little of that). We also spent a weekend at Le Mans (classic car racing), and watched a bin-man climb into the campsite skip to separate out glass bottles - now that's dedication to recycling!

Packaging-wise, supermarkets are not allowed to give away free plastic bags (hurrah!), and most of the bags we were given when shopping elsewhere (markets etc) were compostable plastic. (Unfortunately my schoolgirl French "pas de sac, merci" seemed not to be understood every time!)
Bakeries were best for packaging - I picked up a cotton baguette bag at the beginning of the trip, and every subsequent loaf went straight into that with no other wrappings.

We also benefited from the Tour de France no-litter policy and came away with two water-bottles chucked at us by riders (they are told to direct their empties towards spectators rather than just drop them on the roadside) - both myself and my dad are big cycling fans, so they're great souvenirs!

Mel

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Mrs G - It is great to pick your own fruit and get a real chance to slow down. I've been in the fast lane a lot lately and it was a great opportunity to take a breather. The strawberries are yummy but the raspberries were delicious too. We came away with a whole punnet full. Most of them have now been eaten, but I'm going to mix the others in with some yummy yogurt.

Hee hee, I don't think I'll get away with much more picking, especially as tomorrow I'm off to London for the whole day to celebrate with some friends...and as you say, you don't really want the responsibility of Mr A's underpants. :-D

Hi Jane - now that's a nifty idea and as you say is real dedication. I might not be able to stretch my skills to a wormery overcoat, but It's got me thinking. Thanks so much for for dropping by and for sharing. When you've finished the project, please do send me a photo as I'd love to put it up on the blog. ;-D

Hi Vashti - Great point about Freecycle....and you've inspired me to keep hold of them for using at Christmas, when there are a few things that I've got lined up where they will come in handy for packing. Thank you and thanks for dropping by, good to get a visit from a fellow Welsh person. I'm an expat from the valleys. Interesting blog by the way ;-D

Hi Mel - I have been wondering where you've been and was just about to send out a search-party email. Hope you had a great time in France. Your account is so interesting and you've just reminded me that I need to get prepared for my journey through France to Switzerland where I will be spending some of my summer hols. I'm looking forward to trying to seek out a canvas baguette bag...that sounds a great idea. What brilliant news about the whole recycling thing. ;-D

I saw your comment about Ruby going up to York. You lucky thing, to have her on your doorstep. Please look after her for me and watch out for her bins. Her departure is very sad news for Bury and I will miss her dearly. :(

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