Sensational, sumptuous, seasonal strawberries! It is difficult to describe or do justice to what real seasonal strawberries taste like, unless you’ve eaten them fresh.
I love farm fresh fruit and vegetables because they are picked ripe off the tree, plant, bush or vine; at the right time of year.
Strawberry Season
It is the season for strawberries up here on the Atherton Tablelands; from July to November. The rich volcanic soil and climate are the right mix for cultivating this ripe, red juicy berry. Our small local supermarkets have them in stock. Upon seeing these little red beacons dancing merrily in shopping baskets, it alerted me, to the fact, that the season for strawberries had already begun.
Eating Strawberries & Ice Cream
Local Strawberry Farm
I didn’t waste much time. For the very next week I visited Shaylee’s Strawberry farm where I picked my own punnet/s. There are rules for picking your own strawberries. One obvious one, which can be tempting is: ‘no eating in the paddock’. Once you finished filling your punnet, you return to the main counter to weigh it and pay for your pick. There were three sizes of small, medium and large. The cost was $12.00 per kg for ‘pick your own’.
Pick Your Own Punnet
We just turned up and participated in the ‘Pick Your Own‘. There were tourists aplenty, all picking fresh-from-the-farm strawberries. If you don’t want to ‘ooh and aah’ while you’re walking through the rows, picking and discovering these little strawberry gems tucked under leafy bushlets, then you simply buy them at the Cafe. The little cafe has many kids and families enjoying gelatos and sorbets, after ‘having fun’ being a strawberry farmer. The farm boasts that: ‘Only the choicest fruit are grown and harvested only when fully ripe‘.
Health Benefits
Strawberries are known as a superfood and an antioxidant; where it gets rid of ‘free radicals’. Our cells needs oxygen which creates energy for our bodies to work properly. But then it has a by product, aka ‘free radicals’. This is similar to excreting waste from our bodies; urine etc.,. The antioxidant fruits are known for doing a sterling job in exterminating waste build up and strawberries are one of the champion fighters from the berry family.
It is marvellous to eat fruit with benefits; all handpicked farm fresh strawberries at that!! Thank you Atherton Tablelands.
Loving the strawberries at the moment and the price in the supermarket. My kids love them.
We are just starting to get flowers on ours in the garden. We get little lizards that apparently like them too!
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How delightful. It is fantastic growing your own fruits. Educationally fabulous for kids… gardens and growing things.
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This was a ‘delicious’ looking post, Maria. Thank you for joining in the link up for Life This Week. Next time you link up, just one post please! I had neglected to add that to my blogging rules for the link up so apologies for that!
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Actually I usually only link one. However I had deleted the strawberry, but could not delete the matching comment, so I linked it back up, otherwise it would not make sense in the comments. But if you like I can see if it will allow me to delete my strawberry. Or please if you can do delete it. Many thanks for the link up Maria.
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The sweetest strawberries I have ever tasted, were the ones grown in my friend’s garden in Christchurch NZ. They were only little but gosh they were nice. Wish the ones I bought here were as good!
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I can’t bring myself to buy strawberries from outside a local area, because they don’t taste as sweet and delicious. When I was in NSW area end 2015, we bought apricots from a farm off the side of the road. I thought I would die with delight at the taste of the apricots.
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I love picking strawberries! When I was young in Scotland I used to pick them as a job in the school holidays – I used to dream of them. Love to pick and eat them in my mum’s back garden too. Must see if this can be done near Sydney.
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It is a treat being able to pick fruit fresh from the farm. Going back this weekend with my sister and her family.
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I have actually never been strawberry picking. There are a few places not too far from me, I’m pretty sure.
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I never realised that they allowed pick your own, so it was a treat picking our own. I’m taking my sister and her family on the weekend. She is stoked.
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I took the kids to do this last year in Perth and it was so hot it was horrible! Might have to try it again on a cooler day.
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Definitely Spring is a nicer time. I’m taking my sister’s family on Saturday to pick their own. The girls will have so much fun. Then I want to take them to the Mad Hatterz Cafe for lunch, which is an amazing novelty.
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Yum! I’ve never been strawberry picking, I’m not even sure where I would go! I tried growing some once but the birds ate them, seems humans aren’t the only strawberry lovers on the planet! #TeamIBOT
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I believe it is the only farm in North Queensland, Australia that we happen to have in the Atherton Tableland area. I have had dismal attempts at growing them also. So, I’ will the growing to experts. Hence I’m taking my sister and my two niece to pick fresh punnets from the farm.
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I love strawberries, they are one of my favourite fruits
Mollyxxx
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Especially when they’re farm fresh. Taking my sister and her girls to pick a punnet at lunch time. and then heading off to Mad Hatterz Cafe. Yey for school holiday.!
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Yum!! I love strawberries, and so do my kids. I picked some up yesterday; 5 punnets for $5 from our local supermarket!! I’d love to pick our own though!
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These taste amazing. Took my sister and gi
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Taste is awesome. Took my sister and the girls yesterday.
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Oh, I LOVE strawberries! I love everything about them – their taste, colour and how they just go with so much including my green smoothies! So healthy for you too – bonus!
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Grace, the taste of these strawberries are to die for. I always search out local produce because they taste like they should.
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Here where I live in the Redlands Maria it used to be known as the strawberry capital of Qld years ago. A lot of strawberry growing land has been turned into housing estates unfortunately but there are a few farms. I like nothing better than picking them straight from the plant. There’s such a different, fresher taste to them. I’m not fussed on eating them cold out of the fridge when you buy them from the supermarket. They seemed to have lost their flavour. This reminds me I should take the kids strawberry picking again. They loved it last time we did it. Thanks so much for linking up to Thriving on Thursdays.
Anne xx
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Anne, Because of cold storage and gassing of fruit and veggies to bring them to point of sale, they lose their true flavour. I experienced this in Dec 2015 when I travelled inland, only a couple hours from Melbourne, where I found apricots. The taste was unreal.So I won’t buy stone fruit, if it’s not local. I shop in local shops who buy local fruit and veggies. I usually use IGA and SPA which are both owned by locals in our area. Whenever I get the chance I pick from the farm. The strawberry was a bonus. This weekend I’m taking my brother’s family with four girls to pick their own punnet. Such a great memory creating for them. Enjoy yours.
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