A Day of U-Picking in the South Okanagan

Today was our first u-pick day of the year. We started up at Covert Farms and picked their sweet organic strawberries ($2.50/lb). The picking was easy so it didn’t take long to fill our cardboard box. Teddy wasn’t too keen on standing between the rows of strawberry plants. Unfortunately he’s getting too heavy to have in carrier while picking, which is what I did last year, so I need to come up with some ideas for keeping him happy while we u-pick. I also made the poor choice of wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt and got pricked by thorns and eaten by the mosquitoes. I hadn’t noticed many mosquitoes there last year but this is the earliest I’ve been out there to pick fruit. Next time I will take my cue from the farm workers and wear pants, a long sleeved shirt and boots. Actually, I should come up with a list of what to bring u-picking so I don’t forget anything next time.

After Covert Farms we drove south to Hillside Orchards which was recommended to me by a friend. What a great place! We picked their Titan cherries ($.199/lb) which are amazingly sweet and juicy. The cherries are not organic, but the owners are conservative with their use of pesticides and send in their fruit for testing to measure residual pesticides. My children were very keen on picking the cherries and there were even some that Teddy and Claire could reach without using a ladder. I treated my children to alarmingly blue bubblegum ice cream which they enjoyed immensely. We even got to hold some adorable kittens which only resulted in a long conversation about how we aren’t buying a kitten today, or tomorrow… or in a few year (my husband is allergic to cat dander).