Berries

DancingLady

DancingLady

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22 Oct 2014
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Strawberry season is coming up. I used to look forward to it so much, but once I graduated from high school and moved out, I've never had the money to splurge on berries like my family did. I will only get one box this year.

I think strawberries are the only berry I have ever purchased due to expense. I can go blackberry picking for free, so those are the only berries in my diet.

Are you able to indulge in berries this year?
 
we go strawberry picking at a local pick your own always 4 or more varieties,we have raspberry canes at home as well as gooseberries, my father has loads of fruit canes, so we have loads of raspberries,logan berries and tay berries red, white and black currants,this year i have never seen the bushes laden with at much fruit,we also go pick your own blueberry picking near to core castle Dorset but there is a strict no eating policy there!! then later on in the season there will be wild and cultivated blackberry picking
 
DancingLady said:
Strawberry season is coming up. I used to look forward to it so much, but once I graduated from high school and moved out, I've never had the money to splurge on berries like my family did. I will only get one box this year.

I think strawberries are the only berry I have ever purchased due to expense. I can go blackberry picking for free, so those are the only berries in my diet.

Are you able to indulge in berries this year?
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I just bought a 400g (approx 14oz) pack from Aldi for 99p (thats about 1.5 dollars, I think :unsure:). So I can easily afford them here. Why are they so expensive where you are?
 
The one that always amazes me is seeing blackberries being sold in shops for ridiculous amounts of money. Blackberries grew everywhere and I pick masses of them at no cost (except for a few scratches).
 
morning glory said:
I just bought a 400g (approx 14oz) pack from Aldi for 99p (thats about 1.5 dollars, I think :unsure:). So I can easily afford them here. Why are they so expensive where you are?
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I think it has to do with the labor involved and the rush shipping to get them to the store before they spoil. The shelf life for good strawberries is very short. Where I grew up we had fruit stands in the summer and they had good prices, but in this town you have to go to the grocery store, which costs more, or drive out somewhere and spend your savings on the berries in the gas to get there.

I will only eat organic berries because the conventional ones are listed as one of the top "dirty" foods for pesticides, and I don't think any berry could taste good enough to be worth putting that much pesticides in my body. I don't want to overload my system again and have more eczema issues since it pretty much went away when I went on a mostly organic diet.
 
I love the PYO farms and we are lucky to have some good ones around here. Sadly my back issues mean I won't be able to take much advantage of them this year and I doubt I can convince my husband to go strawberry picking by himself, for whatever reason he is not a fan of it and I get that look from him. I pick loads of blackberries around here usually. In fact one of the local bridle paths I have renamed to Blackberry alley. I can easily pick 50kg of fruit from there without trying. There are also some wild raspberry canes around here and whilst they do not provide much in the way of fruit, one or two of them do produce some really large fruits and are worth visiting. The others are just a pick a raspberry or two each time you pass canes... Otherwise I have a few tubs with strawberries growing in them. Fruit is beginning to form now, so in a few weeks I may have the odd strawberry or two which is nice.

Otherwise I guess unless I pass someone selling off their excess fruit at the side of the road (usually when I am cycling) I will be sadly left with supermarket fruit this year. But I will only purchase UK fruit. Last year I cycled through the heart of one of the main growers for Waitrose's berry supply (in Hertfordshire) and was able to purchase some fruit direct from the grower. That fruit (I had blueberries and cherries) was amazing, especially the cherries which had literally just been picked that morning). Sadly my back issues mean I won't be able to repeat that this year, but if I lived in that area, it would be the only place I got my fruit from!
 
Blackberries are abundant where I live and I do not think I have ever paid for a single blackberry in my life. They are ripe in late July and I pick enough from my in laws back woods to last me for the whole year.

There are also several PYO blueberry and raspberry farms around here so I never have to pay grocery store prices. We also make a summer trip over the mountains each summer and I get a load of fresh cherries.
 
Wow that makes me drooling, over here I can to buy it in the grocery but does not cost to much and I have no problem with it.
 
I also love strawberries. But that berry is not common here since this is a tropical country. Baguio City is the only place I know where strawberries thrive. They have a strawberry farm there where vacationers can go for berry picking fo a fee. Although we can buy strawberry in the supermarket, they are quite expensive. Fortunately we have several mulberry tree here that is a good substitute for strawberry. Mulberry is so good to eat when picked fresh and washed thoroughly.
 
Duck59 said:
The one that always amazes me is seeing blackberries being sold in shops for ridiculous amounts of money. Blackberries grew everywhere and I pick masses of them at no cost (except for a few scratches).
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I wish we were so lucky. Blackberry bushes are hard to find around here. You find a few bushes here and there but not enough to pick any amount. I love blackberries and pay quite a bit for them at the market. I do pick an abundance of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. I love freezing them up and enjoying them through the winter months.
 
DancingLady said:
Strawberry season is coming up. I used to look forward to it so much, but once I graduated from high school and moved out, I've never had the money to splurge on berries like my family did. I will only get one box this year.

I think strawberries are the only berry I have ever purchased due to expense. I can go blackberry picking for free, so those are the only berries in my diet.

Are you able to indulge in berries this year?
Click to expand...
Yes, Strawberries are cheap and affordable here. They cost a bit more over the winter months, but from Easter to Labor Day they are plentiful and low cost. I am not a huge strawberry fan, but I prefer berries like red and black raspberries, but they tend to cost a bit more. Blackberries grow wild around here, but there are really not enough of them to do anything with.
 
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