Start of Summer = Strawberries! | Alexandria, VA Child Photographer

For the past couple years, we've kicked off the summer with not only trips to the pool, but also trips to a local farm to pick strawberries. One of the closest ones to our home is Shlagel Farms in Waldorf, MD. It's a lovely little farm that is celebrating their 100th year of farming. They have very easily accessible pick-your-own strawberry fields, a greenhouse full of blooming flowers, a chicken coop, a few goats, and a small playground and sandpit for children to enjoy. Pure simple fun.

Saturday was definitely not an optimal day to go strawberry picking. There had been heavy thunderstorms the night before which created big mud puddles throughout the fields. And traffic was expected to be horrendous across the bridge due to closure on the Beltway for roadwork. But the strawberry season is short and we definitely did not want to miss our window of opportunity, especially on a day with gorgeous weather.

So we loaded the kids into the car with appropriate footwear and lots of snacks for the car ride and headed to the farm. We had a fantastic time and came home with 13.5 POUNDS of berries!!! We have given some away to neighbors and friends, made strawberry shortcake, pureed and frozen some into popsicles, made smoothies, and have been snacking on them nonstop. And we still have a ton left! I think we'll have to freeze the rest before I turn into a strawberry myself!