Strawberry Fields Forever

This may start to sound like an infomercial for Ingram Farm, but we had such a great time picking strawberries and were so impressed with Ingram Farm (located at 6121 Riverdale Drive, High Point, North Carolina) that it's hard not to brag about the place.

When we first got to Ingram Farm (open Monday - Friday 7am - 7pm; Saturday - 7am - 5pm; not open on Sunday . . . good God fearing folk, too!), this was the picturesque view that greeted us.

Then it was down to business. The friendly staff at Ingram Farm (you can contact them by calling toll free 336-431-2369) handed us the flag Finley is holding and directed us to a row to start picking! We were asked to place the flag wherever we stopped picking. They seemed to have quite a system at Ingram Farm!

I was a little afraid that since we were there so late in the day that the strawberries would be picked over. But the row we were directed to at Ingram Farm looked like it had been planted, tended to, and preserved just for us. There were so many strawberries!!!

Good quality strawberries at Ingram Farm, too!

Here is Finley helping his "dada" put the berries in the bucket. If you fill the bucket, you get about 10lbs of strawberries . . . which would cost you a fortune at the supermarket, but not at Ingram Farm (just $1.10 per pound if you pick your own, and $1.70 per pound pre-picked)!

What's more, after you are done picking, there is a great little "country kitchen" at Ingram Farm where you can buy strawberry ice-cream or strawberry ice!

It was delicious. Just ask Finley if this picture doesn't tell the whole story!

Once we got home, we enjoyed some of the fresh strawberries. They were so sweet. You know, the good folks at Ingram Farm (which has been a family-owned farm for over 100 years!) plant new strawberry plants each year to increase crop production and sweetness. Notwithstanding their long history, Ingram Farm has kept up with the newest strawberry picking technology. In 1995, Ingram Farm adopted plasti-culture for strawberries (strawberries are grown on a raised bed of dirt that has a plastic cover on it), which allows for easier picking and cleaner fruit (for more information visit www.ingramfarm.com).

After enjoying some fresh strawberries, it became clear that we wouldn't be able to eat all of them before they started to go bad. In retrospect, maybe we should have shared . . . but instead we experimented with making "fruit leather" (which is basically an all-natural fruit roll-up).

It was pretty easy. You just cut and rinse the strawberries (and you can actually make it with whatever fruit you have on hand).

Then puree in a blender.

Pour out on either a cookie sheet with plastic lining (not wax paper . . . ask Natalie) or on a greased cookie sheet or brownie pan. And then use whatever method you would like to dry it out very slowly (put it in an oven at a very low temperature for many hours, leave it in a car to bake all day, etc.).

Once it is sufficiently dry (or leathery), you peel it off the pan or plastic and cut it into delicious squares (or rectangles) to be enjoyed!