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STRAWBERRY PICKING
Strawberries that aren’t organic always top the
list of fruits that
you should avoid at all costs. I’ve
heard this so many times that
I often find myself
hurling my body in front of my children when they
reach for a “poisonous” conventional strawberry. When you see
conventional and organic strawberries sitting on the supermarket shelf in plastic containers, it can be hard to tell the difference. Unfortunately, pesticides don’t glow with some scary fluorescent color that warns you against ingesting them. And what about eating them off-season? If you’re buying organic strawberries in December, are they really any more eco-friendly when they have been flown long distances from Mexico or Chile?
What’s an eco-minded parent to do?
One thing I do is take my family strawberry picking at an organic farm in Ancramdale, N.Y., about two hours north of New York City. The Thompson-Finch farm is a family-run farm specializing in growing certified-organic strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and apples. For about three to four weeks from the middle of June to the middle of July, the farm is all about strawberries. Check out the Local Harvest site (www.localharvest.org) to find a farm in your area.
We just went this past weekend, and my husband and my three kids had a blast, spending about an hour eating, picking, eating some more, picking and basking in back-to-nature, get-in-touch-with-the-earth bliss. Of course, the children turned it into a big race to see who could pick the most strawberries, grabbing, twisting and dumping them into the cardboard boxes that the farm provided (no plastic containers at this farm—just good old earth and plants). But it was still a remarkably peaceful day. There were bugs, lots of bugs, a byproduct of the fact that the farm doesn’t spray. And by the end of the day, the children understood for the first time where strawberries come from. They ate more strawberries than they have ever eaten before, and they enjoyed getting their little fingers dirty in some good wholesome organic soil.
A drive out to the farm is the perfect way to introduce your children to the idea of what eating locally and seasonally is about and what buying organic food means. I also think it’s a great way to illustrate how we really do live off the land, despite the fact that most families only see the end result wrapped in plastic in a supermarket.
Right now, we’re counting the days until the blueberry season in a couple of weeks and can barely contain ourselves when we think about raspberry season in August. And fall is just not fall without pumpkin and apple picking.
In 2006, Francesca Olivieri co-founded the company sage baby, an online eco-friendly baby store offering everything from organic clothes and skincare to furniture. She also writes a monthly blog for Scenic Hudson as well as contributes articles to Daily Candy Kids, CitiScoop and NRDC’s Simple Steps. She continues to watch her green business grow while seeking to apply her values to her own home and family. Francesca lives in New York City with her husband and three kids, 8, 6 and 4.
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