This weekend: Strawberry picking

One of my favourite things to do is explore new places. Another favourite is to give our kids a taste of country life, even though we live in a big city. If we can do both of these with an easy 45 min drive out of town, then even beter.

This week-end we headed for Tangaroa farm near Hartbeespoort Dam. It had a picnic area next to a duck pond, and wide open fields with rows of strawberry plants and some mullberry trees full of fruit. One is allowed to go in and pick and eat as much as you like, but, because crops are not that abundand yet, not allowed to take anything home. It was quite hot- you're only allowed in after ten, so we preferred the shade of the trees. The strawberries are organically farmed which meant that you could pick them and eat them. Juicy and sunwarmed. I loved the feeling of space and quietness as you walked, looking for ripe strawberries. And that the kids had space to safely explore.

We had lunch on a blanket next to the pond. Only later noticing that we were within arms reach of a nest of white duck eggs. The parents were quite mellow, more interested in some bread bits. Later we noticed another duck sitting quietly on a nest inside a barn area. We walked past her a few times before noticing her.

On the way home we briefly stopped at a Dutch cheese farm (Van Gaalens). I loved all the names of the Dutch imported sweets. There were packets of those old fashioned heart shaped candies saying "modern" things like "Fax mij" -fax me, and "bel mij" - phone me.

Here's a lay-out I did of the day, using a Katie Pertiet (Designer digitals) template. Other products are also from Designer Digitals.

And a link to the Strawberry farm's website: http://www.tangaroa.co.za/ .