Strawberry Picking

Friday was an absolutely beautiful day. My main mission was to go strawberry picking over near Ashville somewhere. I had my directions and a full tank of gas and other than avoiding the area near Talladega speedway, a wide open road. So I followed the instructions and began my excursion to Lowery Farms. I went by way of Ohatchee and took Mudd Street to Hwy 77, then turned onto 144, crossed the Coosa River and headed into St. Clair County. The longer I drove, the more I began to sense that there was probably a shorter and quicker way to arrive at my destination. However, without a county map, I wasn’t going to start making turns into this unknown territory. So, I followed the directions and low and behold, arrived at the Farm.

It was a beautiful drive but I was tired and even considered the option of just buying the strawberries already picked for a couple dollars more. But, a nice pleasant breeze was blowing and I thought; I’ve driven all this way to pick strawberries, how hard can it be? So I took my hat and my bucket and met a friendly fella and gal who told me where to pick and gave me a few pointers, and I picked my berries.

The plants were in neat rows, grown with only some natural liquid fertilizer and they were full of berries. I should have counted because it didn’t take me ten or twelve plants to get my two gallons of strawberries, with a few sampled along the way to make sure they were sweet. I can’t remember the last time I’d eaten fresh strawberries like that. But, it was a quick picking, I was glad I’d picked them, and I was soon on my way back home, taking another route since I’d discovered I was only two or three miles from the river, and yes, I had taken the ‘long way’ to get there.

The drive home took me by way of Rainbow City and Southside on 77 and then back to Mudd Street and one home. A total of 100 miles I think it was and several hours, but hey, it was a grand day and I spent the next couple hours cleaning, capping and freezing the berries. Of course, I stopped at the store for some whipped topping and an angel food cake, so guess what we had for dessert that nightJ Yum.