Lawson Brothers Farm

About three weekends ago my calendar said, "Lawson Brothers Farm--Strawberries Ready". Lawson Brothers is a pick-your-own berry farm a few miles from Lawrence. They grow strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries, all of which are available at different times of the year. Last year we kept intending to go out, but were always busy doing something or other and never made it. So this year it's on my calendar--strawberries at the end of May, blackberries in July, and raspberries in August.

But, even with it on my calendar, we still ended up being a little late. When we finally found the farm today, there was a sign up that said "Patch Cleaning-Out Day. Pick what you want, Pay what you think they're worth." We were a little downhearted, expecting that not much would be left.

We were pleasantly surprised though. We probably had to do more hunting than we would've had to a few weeks ago, but we ended up finding quite a few good strawberries.


This is the back half of the patch where we started. We thought maybe it would be less picked over.


A good one!


I felt a little bad making Sweet Husband come pick with me--he doesn't really even like strawberries. But when we got home he tried one and said, "Hm, if strawberries usually tasted this good, I might eat them more often," so I guess he was just earning his share.


A few strawberries in our box.


Two pretty strawberries hiding in the leaves.


Me with our final haul. It took me about a half an hour to hull about two-thirds of them, but it was so worth it--they're so much better than the ones from the store, right at that perfect place between tangy and sweet. Their juice made my hands smell delicious and Poppy and the Lovebirds went crazy for the tops!

The other third are sitting in the sun to ripen a little more before we dig in. I thought about trying to make jam but we didn't quite get enough. Besides, they're so good fresh it seems a little heretical to mess with them much.