Strawberry Pickin'

So, I've commented before on how similar our climate is to that of the central States in the Eastern U.S. That being said, it's always peculiar to me how different our climate is as well. For example, we have palm trees lining the streets along the Bay and I can walk around and see orange trees bending over under the weight of ripe fruit. In addition to these "unusual" occurrences, January through April is the strawberry picking season in our area. Well - the strawberries are grown inside greenhouses...but it still seems crazy since they say that February is usually the coldest month of the year here!

There's an area about a half hour south from us that begins to look a bit more rural - and it's dotted with gardens and greenhouses and nurseries. In December you can go there and pick your own oranges (I'll have to put that on the calendar for next year!) If I wasn't so weird about dirt and germs I would think that I had spent my life as a misplaced farm girl...yucky things aside, I do really love to garden and enjoy picking the "fruit of the land!" ...it's one of those silly things like snow storms and flower gardens that make me resort to being giddy and 12 again!

All this to say, on Saturday morning my friend Kelley and I set out to do some berry picking. We enjoyed the train ride and a twenty minute walk along the river and then arrived at the roadside fruit and veggie stand. Now here's an interesting twist on what I thought was traditional berry picking - when you pick berries and put them in containers to take home...maybe for jelly or strawberry shortcake or to have with cereal or ice cream. No, in Japan you pay for a 30 minute time slot and then have an all-you-can-eat berry fest while you walk and talk and enjoy the hustle bustle of the other customers around you! This was a sure invitation for me to become gluttonous...how many strawberries COULD I eat if I continued non-stop for 30 minutes?? Would I stop when I was full, or keep eating until I burst?? In the end, I think I put away about 45 berries! I probably stopped somewhere in between "comfortably full" and "about to explode."

It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning and I hope to recruit some more friends who'd like to join me on another berry picking adventure in the near future!