Beautiful, delicious, local strawberries!

I took my children strawberry picking this morning at Filasky's Produce in Middletown. It's a great little local farm and we've enjoyed picking strawberries there for several years.

We were the only ones picking this morning and there were TONS of strawberries, all beautiful and ripe.  I ran into the main building to have my container weighed before we started picking and a photographer from the Delaware News Journal asked if she could photograph us picking our strawberries.

The kids had a blast posing for the camera and picking the biggest strawberries that they could find. Aren't these amazing looking? And they taste even better!

If you are local, be sure to head out to Filasky's this spring. Their hours are great (7-7 every day except Sunday 7-6) and the strawberries are just $2.15/pound. And if you are looking for a u-pick farm in your area, be sure to check PickYourOwn.Org.

Fall Weather!

We have been loving the change in seasons from Summer to Fall! Its always a little sad to see summer and warm weather leave, but the crisp, cool autumn mornings that warm up in the afternoon sun have made it wonderful. I know it was not this cool last September because I was very, very pregnant, swollen, and totally bummed that "fall" had not brought any relief from the summer heat. I'm even more ready for fall this year because of that, I think!

Check out these beautiful colors! Our CSA food this week is beautiful. We have a lovely assortment of peppers (orange, red, and purple), more colorful heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, and a lettuce mix and mesclun (an Asian lettuce mix that has a nice little bite to it).

We also took advantage of the cooler weather to visit Milburn Orchards this weekend. In September and October they have Fall Festival Weekends with tons of activities for families, especially those with young children. It was not very crowded at all this weekend, but I've heard that the October weekends very busy. 

We had a great time! We made it through the Corn Maze in one piece...

W especially loved the hay ride.

And check out this turkey! Mmmmm thanksgiving!

Millburn also has U-Pick apples. Click here to see the U-pick apple schedule for this fall. I'm hoping that we will make it down to Lockbriar Farms in Chestertown for U-pick apples also!

And remember, if you are not local and are looking for a place to do U-pick apples this fall, check out PickYourOwn.org!

Food Waste Friday

Every Friday, I join with The Frugal Girl and other bloggers to clean out my fridge and freezer and take a picture of anything that has gone bad over the last week. This holds me accountable to faithfully check every week, and motivates me to use up our leftovers. This has made a huge difference in the amount of food we waste every week. I encourage you to participate with me in food waste Friday, too!

Yay! No food waste today! Really, its a pretty decent accomplishment considering that we had the grandparents watching our kiddos while we were away; any time you have extra people to feed it makes it harder to plan to use up all the prepared food. We still have a few leftovers, but I am more than happy to eat those for my lunch(es)...I eat two lunches most days to keep up with the calories I need for nursing. I love having something easy to heat up during the day!

Be sure to hop on over to Angela Barton's blog, My Year Without Spending today to see me featured on her Thrifty Threads series! Every week Angela posts pictures of people wearing clothes they have gotten second-hand in some way...I really enjoy seeing the great outfits that can be found if you keep an eye out for them!

I'll be back tomorrow with a picture from our CSA pick-up. And if you're looking for some thrifty family fun this weekend, why not go berry picking? We pulled in a nice haul yesterday at Lockbriar Farms. Not local? Check out PickYourOwn.org to find a farm in your area!

U-Pick: Blueberries and Raspberries

We had a great time picking some local blueberries and raspberries earlier this morning. Our favorite place to pick fruit around here is Lockbriar Farms, located just north of Chestertown, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. My husband and I were on our way home from a few nights away (with no kids!!) and stopped to take advantage of the time.

We picked red raspberries and black raspberries! Growing up my grandparents had red raspberries and my husband's had black raspberries, so for each of us, raspberry picking brings back tons of wonderful childhood memories.

We also picked blueberries (2 quarts!)

The blueberries were amazing! The bushes were SO full of berries that we could have filled our containers without hardly moving down the bush. 

We just held our containers under the branches and raked those beautiful berries in by the handful! Here's a look:

The black raspberries were a fun treat! We didn't know they were available until we pulled in to Lockbriar!

If you live in the Delaware area, we highly recommend checking out Lockbriar Farms! Its a a nice country ride, and the location is very family friendly (everything is close together). After you finished berry picking, you should totally take a look around historic Chestertown too. We both are proud to call Washington College our Alma Mater!

We've done a bunch of picking at Lockbriar in the past...check out our pictures from last year's berries and apples!

U-Pick Apples!

My family has really enjoyed all of the seasonal produce that we've been able to pick this year. We've picked strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, and this past weekend we went apple-picking (and raspberries!)! We went back to Chestertown, Maryland, where both of us went to college, to visit Lockbriar Farms again.

If you live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland or the nearby Delaware area like we do, this is a great spot to visit! The drive is beautiful, and the farm is family owned:

(And if you are not local to Lockbriar Farm, be sure to check out PickYourOwn.org to find local U-Pick in your area!)

We planned on just picking apples, but found out when we arrived at Lockbriar that there were strawberries and raspberries available as well! We finished off our pint of raspberries quickly, and have really been enjoying the apples. Lockbriar provided us with a great apple picking basket to use while we walked through the orchard, and our daughter loved helping put apples in the basket!

Lockbriar's apples are $.99/pound. Location, hours, and other information can be easily found on their Facebook page! And remember, Thrifty Living is on Facebook too!

Do you have apple-picking plans for the weekend now? You should!

U-Pick: Lockbriar Farms

After the u-pick strawberry season, I kind of forgot that many local farms offer other fruit for u-pick during the summer. On Saturday, we went to Lockbriar Farms, located in Chestertown, MD, just 5 minutes from where my husband and I went to college! If you live in the Middletown area, it only takes about 40 minutes to get to Lockbriar! And remember to check out PickYourOwn.org for U-pick farms in YOUR area!

Right now Lockbriar is open for u-pick blackberries ($2.59/lb), blueberries ($2.59/lb), and peaches (1.59/lb).

First we picked some blackberries:

Then checked out the peaches:

And finished up with the blueberries!

The first rule of u-pick really should be to walk down the row of bushes (or trees) a good way before starting! Everyone picks at the beginning of the row, but we had the best luck near the back. The blackberries and blueberries were so much larger and way more plentiful!

Look how big this blackberry is!

We picked over a pound of blackberries:

And almost 2 pounds of blueberries:

We ended up with only 2 peaches because we were mostly there for the berries, and we would have had to walk a bit farther to get to the ripe peaches.

Lockbriar Farm is located at 10051 Worton RD Chestertown, MD. They open at 10 am every day and close at 6 (M-F), 5 (Sat), and 4 (Sun). You can call them at 410.778.9112 or find more information and pictures on their Facebook page.

Happy Picking!