Great Country Strawberries

Around here, the end of May and beginning of June mean strawberry picking time. Strawberries right off the vine are the sweetest and juiciest and anyone who knows my kids knows they can down handfuls of strawberries at a time. This year we chose to go to Great Country Farm in Bluemont with our favorite preschool teacher and friend, Mrs. Winger. We were excited to show her all that this place had to offer. I am telling you it was the perfect day, low 80's and a nice breeze, in the shade the kids even complained it was cold! After a week of sweltering with a heat index of 105 on one day, this was a welcome reprieve, and just the right picking weather. We took a tractor ride out to the fields and filled up our containers with the biggest, reddest beauties we could find, tasting one or two along the way (just to make sure they were ripe :). Then we explored all of the fun on the other side of the farm. We saw farm animals, played in a "corn box" went down huge tube slides, and bounced on a "jumping pillow" to name just a few. I am certain that Gavin and Mason could have spent the entire day soaking up the fun, but after a picnic lunch we headed home. After just ending a year of teaching 3-5 year olds every day, I'm not sure if this was Mrs. Winger's idea of a good time, but she definitely seemed to be enjoying herself right along side my littles. We're so lucky to be her friends.