On our trip to the farmers’ market this weekend, we made a wonderful discovery…
Strawberries are in season!! 
There were several vendors there with strawberries, so we picked up a box (which is about four liters). Strawberries don’t last for very long after they’re picked, so we’ve been using them quickly. This batch became strawberry shakes, strawberries on sponge cake, fruit salad, and just plain old raw strawberries. Yum!
This also means that the U-Pick places are up and running. They’re a bit behind this year because of the rain, but the berries at the market looked awesome. I detailed one of our trips to Boonstra Farms for Foodtv.ca, but there are tons of other U-Pick places around Winnipeg and southern Manitoba.
The Manitoba government publishes a brochure for U-Pick places (pdf), and you can also check PickYourOwn.org, a great place for all things U-Pick. That site also has great tips for picking and storing your fruits and veggies. *edit: Ruth in the comments also suggested the Prairie Fruit Growers Association website, which looks like a great resource as well. Thanks, Ruth!
We’d like to get out and do picking for something other than strawberries this year – I’m thinking raspberries would be a neat change of pace.
Have you gone picking yet this year? What did you get?
2 Comments
July 14, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Prairie Fruit Growers Association is a great site for u-pick info in Manitoba. (www.pfga.com) It lists contact info and has up-to-date info on opening times/dates. I check it all the time for strawberry and saskatoon u-pick info
July 16, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I haven’t hit a single farmers market or u-pick yet this summer! So sad :(