picking stuff: berries, peas, etc.....

[lemony]

hello all,

i hope the bounty of summer is making its way to your kitchens & stomachs!

question: where does one go to pick things? i've got a 6 year old niece who is already quite a little foodie in her own right and she is itching to go pick "something we can eat." i am ashamed to admit that, although i was born & raised in seattle, i have never in my 37 years gone to pick any produce.

i'm equally mortified to admit i don't even know when the seasons to do such things begin and end.

anyone have any suggestions on reliable U-Pick places? how does this work?

please forgive my ignorance; i have long been spoiled by the produce at my neighborhood grocery (metropolitan market, west seattle).

thanks in advance!

lemony

[memesuze]

check the paper's classified ads under food products or call the county agent or check the state department of agriculture - that's where we in Texas would find them....

[gingerpeach]

Try this:

U-pick farms

I haven't been to any U-pick farms in the Northwest, but one of my fondest childhood memories was going to pick grapes with my family somewere outside of Phoenix. I bet your niece will have a great time!

[Really Nice!]

Try this: 

U-pick farms

Excellent, EXCELLENT SITE!!!

Thank you gingerpeach and welcome! Welcome lemony and thanks for asking a great question.

I was going to say that up on I-5 somewhere around the 195-205 mile marker there's a place that advertises U-Pick on the east side of the highway. I believe this is north of King County and it's the only place I can reference without researching.

To get an idea as to the seasons here in Washington State, start here with the Mount Vernon Research Unit and drill down to...

Dang, I can't find where to drill down, but here's the Washington Agricultural Harvest Date Statisitics Web site. Most Washington fruit and vegetables are here except for Old-time Apple Varieties.

Good luck!

Edit: Changed "it's the only place I can reference with researching" to "it's the only place I can reference without researching." Sheesh!

Edited July 9, 2004 by Really Nice! (log)

[Mr. Toast]

One specific place you can go (listed on the site) is South 47 Farm, midway between Redmond and Woodinville. They're doing raspberries and marionberries right now, and perhaps other u-pick stuff.

South47 website

[LEdlund]

I was going to say that up on I-5 somewhere around the 195-205 mile marker there's a place that advertises U-Pick on the east side of the highway. I believe this is north of King County and it's the only place I can reference with researching.

I think the place you're referring to is Biringer Farms. I drove by it last week and there were lots of people out picking berries of some sort.

[lemony]

thanks everyone for the great suggestions! now, if the sun would come out again...

i'll let you know how it goes. as a longtime lurker on this board, i am amazed at the wealth of information and kindhearted advice/suggestions here. thanks for having me!

lemony

[kiliki]

I used to do U Pick all the time, thinking it was the way to get the best, freshest, cheapest produce (despite HATING the fact that my mother would drag us to U Pick places as kids. I got stung by a bee every time, I swear). Now that we have such great neighborhood farmer's markets, though, it doesn't seem worth the drive, time and effort.

Many of these farms have farmstands, and I do still often stop when I'm coming back from a hike to buy already picked berries.

Biringer Farms has a stand in the parking lot of the Sunset Bowl in Ballard (14th and Market) as well as the Pike Place Market, fyi.

Edited July 9, 2004 by kiliki (log)

[Rusa]

Lucky you, you're in the NW, where all you have to do is go for a walk in the woods. You will soon find a million marion/blackberry bushes, and all you need is a pail, and a long sleeve shirt to keep the stickers off. Look around and up, you will also find lots of fruit trees gone wild: plums, apples, pears, cherry.

I used to live in Portland, and strawberry farms are also superb places for upick. No more of those styrofoam California Stepford berries. Once I found an abandoned five acre strawberry farm only a mile from my house Now I live in Denver, and there is nothing growing wild anywhere except a few sage bushes. I miss my cherry (Bing!), apple, and plum trees. sob

Edited July 9, 2004 by Rusa (log)

[kiliki]

And don't forget the huckleberry/wild blueberry bushes in the mountains...I have certain hikes I save for September just so I can eat my way up the trail.

[Placebo]

Vashon Island is good for picking blackberries. A friend and I once picked nearly 20 pounds in an afternoon just pullingover from the road wherever we saw good bushes.

[Mallet]

Now that berry-picking season is upon us again (we are just starting to get into blueberry season in Halifax, NS, and uncommonly early I might add...) I had a question I was hoping someone can answer.

How long will freshly picked (as in 10 minutes ago, during my lunchbreak ) blueberries keep at room temperature? I didn't get quite enough to make a pie with, so I was hoping I could just keep on adding to the bucket in my office for a few days.

[chuck]

I spent half an hour picking a gallon of blackberries at Magnuson park yesterday. I wouldn't mention it if I thought there weren't enough for all of us, but clearly half the city could show up with me in the next few days and I'd still get another gallon.

I'm thinking about an old fashioned cobbler, dropping flaky, not-too-sweet biscuit dough on the sugared berries and then sending it into the oven. Or maybe a buckle. Or a grunt.