You Pick Cherries

Hubby wanted to go to a you-pick place to get strawberries, and then get the fixings to make a strawberry pie. That sounded dandy to me. 

He checked on line and to my surprise it said strawberry season is about done around here. We thought we'd go by the Kruse Farm* you pick place because they also had cherries and blueberries.  We went to check it out and give it a whirl.

We checked in with the lady at the pay stand. She confirmed that the strawberries were about done. Of the ones you could find she said 8 out of 10 would be overripe. I guess with the unseasonably warm weather they fruited quicker than usual. So we opted for the cherries. 

All potential pickers have to sign a quick release form, so that was done. Then since we didn't plan very well and forgot to bring a fruit carrying receptacle she gave us new plastic bags, pointed us down the road where the cherry orchard was and away we went.

There were quite a few other people in there picking cherries. 

There were picking ladders situated here and there throughout the orchard but they were all being used.

It didn't really matter because there were so many cherries low on the branches we just had to reach up a little to fill our bags. 

After just a few minutes I figured we had plenty. After all I didn't want to get so many that we couldn't eat them and they went bad. Back we went to the pay stand to get our cherries weighed and paid for. 

Our beautiful haul of Rainier cherries amounted to about 5 pounds at $1.50/pound. We stopped at the grocery store for some items and noted the Rainier cherries were on sale for $6.00/pound. I think we did well!

I've read that Rainier cherries are sometimes called nature's candy because they are so sweet. Now what to do with all our cherries. Eat them like candy without any guilt!

*Kruse Farm is rather famous in our area. They have a large farm stand along with a great bakery. And of course the various you pick locations.