A couple weeks ago, a friend and I took our kiddos to pick berries at Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport. (Uh, where?) Well, it's between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, tucked away outside the tiny town of Davenport (population: 367).
Swanton Farms has U-pick ollalieberries and strawberries now (although I think ollalieberry season is winding down), blackberries at their Coastaways Ranch, and kiwi in the winter. (How cool is that?)
We started off with the ollalieberries. C just wanted to eat them. They are a little bit of work to get, but oh, so juicy! (You want to pick the black ones, not the red ones, remember.)
Then we headed up a little hill to get some strawberries. Again, C just wanted to loll in the field and eat berries until her little tummy was full.
After we paid for our bounty (ollalieberries were $4/pound and strawberries were $2.50/pound, and everything is organic), we had a little picnic at one of the tables they have there. Finally, we washed the kids up (as best we could) and drove along Highway 1 to head home. Such a beautfiul sight to see the ocean along the way.
What did I do with all those juicy berries? First, I made some ollalieberry jam, courtesy of Swanton Farms' recipe here. Oh my goodness, it is so yummy. I must get myself some ollalieberry plants, stat!
I had fewer strawberries than ollalieberries, but we just ate those as fast as we could: on shortcake, in yogurt, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in smoothies. We picked the bright red little ones. So delicious!
There are several U-Pick farms in the Bay Area. To find one near you, hop over here.
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