{"id":541,"date":"2011-04-07T00:41:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T00:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/florida-discoveries-9-akers-of-strawberries.html"},"modified":"2011-04-07T00:41:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T00:41:00","slug":"florida-discoveries-9-akers-of-strawberries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/florida-discoveries-9-akers-of-strawberries.html","title":{"rendered":"Florida Discoveries 9: Akers of Strawberries!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

Love that name!  It’s the name of our nearby you-pick strawberry farm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This post will be about our strawberry picking experience, which wasn’t quite as nice as The Vollmer Farm in North Carolina<\/a>, but it has the Bellevue Berry Farm in Nebraska<\/a> beat, hands down!<\/div>\n

My next post will cover the strawberry jam I made out of about 3\/4 of the berries we got!<\/p>\n

If you’re east of the Mississippi, chances are you’ve had a chance to enjoy some Florida strawberries.  Plant City, Florida<\/a> is the “winter strawberry capital of the United States”, shipping about 3\/4 of the nation’s berries throughout the country in the midwinter months.<\/p>\n

Right about now the Florida harvest is wrapping up and folks are getting less Florida berries and more California berries.  I personally think there’s a HUGE difference!  Florida berries are bigger, redder and tastier!<\/p>\n

Can’t you tell here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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I can’t believe how beautiful these are!  Sorry, no smell-o-blog.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

One of the neighborhood moms put out a Facebook invitation over the weekend to meet at the local Publix<\/a> parking lot, and then car pool up to the berry farm. Akers of Strawberries is about 40 minutes northeast of Navarre, and it was a fun trip. I took a couple of the older kids in my truck along with Jacob and Timmy, and they enjoyed watching Return of the Jedi on the ride.<\/p>\n

There was a Navarre area Moms group also up at the farm and we were invited to join in on their group rate, which was $5 per child to fill a small<\/s> microscopic container with berries and then get a small frozen strawberry yogurt.  Here’s Timmy showing the container the kids were given:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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The berries were so big, you couldn’t fit that many into the pint-sized container.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This wasn’t as great a deal as it sounded.  At $1.50 per pound, and $2 for the frozen yogurt, this was more like $3.50 worth of product for $5.  Many of us put down the money without realizing what we were getting into.  Oh well, the kids were happy and that’s what counted, right?<\/p>\n

Right?<\/p>\n

So…we picked out about 9-10 lbs. of berries total.  Jacob and Timmy, despite not really liking strawberries unless it’s in Go-Gurt<\/a> form, really enjoy looking for that perfect<\/b> berry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I was attempting to recapture a picture I took of the boys in 2007 in North Carolina<\/a>.  <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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Good thing I was wearing a red t-shirt!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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MANY of the berries had this siamese-twin thing going on.  Made the berries much bigger, however….<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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…you were left with this gaping hole that seemed like it would be a breeding ground for mold, bugs and other yuckies.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jacob couldn’t help but laugh at the “funny berries”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We filled up the two small<\/s> microscopic containers and part of a cardboard flat with some HUGE berries, enjoyed our picnic lunch we brought, and then had the frozen yogurt.  I had mine on top of a strawberry shortcake (homemade shortcake) and it was one of the best I’d ever had.  I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of it.<\/p>\n

Here’s our stash of berries, about 1\/3 of which were made into jam 6 hours later!  But that’s for another post!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love that name!  It’s the name of our nearby you-pick strawberry farm. This post will be about our strawberry picking experience, which wasn’t quite as nice as The Vollmer Farm in North Carolina, but it has the Bellevue Berry Farm in Nebraska beat, hands down! My next post will cover the strawberry jam I made out of about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[150,148,97,626,149],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-8J","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":828,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/04\/strawberries-again.html","url_meta":{"origin":541,"position":0},"title":"Strawberries (Again)!!","date":"09 April 12","format":false,"excerpt":"I LOVE strawberries! \u00a0So while the paint is drying from the latest wall I'm painting (in the living room behind the TV), I'll share pictures from our strawberry picking trip last Friday. \u00a0Like last year, we headed out to Akers of Strawberries in Baker, Florida. \u00a0You can compare this year's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"akers of strawberries\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_2871-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/04\/in-a-happy-place.html","url_meta":{"origin":541,"position":1},"title":"In a Happy Place…","date":"02 April 12","format":false,"excerpt":"This is yet another test of some additional capabilities for my new blog. I needed to re-establish the connection for those who receive e-mails of my post, but not from FeedBurner. For the past two days straight, I've been tweaking and massaging the settings on my new blog location and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blogging\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/happy-place-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1089,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/06\/florida-discoveries-24-blueberries.html","url_meta":{"origin":541,"position":2},"title":"Florida Discoveries 24: Touchablue Berry Farm","date":"06 June 12","format":false,"excerpt":"I made plans with a neighborhood friend, Sandra, to go blueberry picking. I had friended A&N Blueberry Farm on Facebook earlier this spring and watched their page for when they'd be opening. Last Thursday (while our older sons were in school) we drove all the way up to the town\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blueberries\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG_3543-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":820,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/04\/happy-easter.html","url_meta":{"origin":541,"position":3},"title":"Happy Easter!","date":"08 April 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning friends and Happy Easter! (I started this post this morning, but I've been fighting with my photo software all morning, then went to church. \u00a0I'm now about to head out to visit friends for the afternoon so I will just publish what I have here and go into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"easter\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_2890-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":543,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/04\/canning-101-or-jam-tomorrow-jam-yesterday-but-never-ever-jam-today.html","url_meta":{"origin":541,"position":4},"title":"Canning 101: Or "Jam Tomorrow, Jam Yesterday, But Never Ever Jam Today!"","date":"12 April 11","format":false,"excerpt":"* Name that tune! Oh, never mind! \u00a0Here's the whole song, just for you! \u00a0This Carol Channing act sent my sister and me into a flurry of giggle when we were little. \u00a0Prepared to have it stuck in your head for a while, ha ha! With all those strawberries I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"cooking\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-MGOI7ihJVvc\/TZzjbYC5mEI\/AAAAAAABUMQ\/kDa_cBo7qKY\/s400\/IMG_4504.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1277,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/08\/florida-discoveries-31-steves-farm-in-walnut-hill.html","url_meta":{"origin":541,"position":5},"title":"Florida Discoveries 31: Steve’s Farm in Walnut Hill","date":"06 August 12","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Saturday the family headed to the northwest corner of Florida for some catfish fishing. \u00a0I know that sounds strange, hauling so far up north when we have amazing fishing all around us, right? We're first heard about Steve's Farm through our Cub Scout pack, they had an outing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"fishing\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/CatfishFeeder.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}