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This post was sponsored by Eckert’s but all opinions are my own. We love supporting local businesses!
We packed up the car and had another family adventure at Eckert’s last week! You know we are big fans of Eckert’s from our Easter Egg Hunt adventures and from when we went strawberry picking, but I think blackberry season might be my favorite!
Whenever we are doing pick your own at Eckert’s I always make sure to arrive right when they open for two reasons. One it is less crowded. Two it isn’t as hot in the morning. Both of those things hopefully mean less melt downs for the kids (and parents) and ensure everyone has lots of fun!
We jumped on the tractor right when we got there and headed to the fields! Last year we went later in the summer and picked peaches and blackberries the same day. But I was too excited about blackberries to wait until peaches open!
There are millions (okay fine that’s slightly exaggerating) of rows of blackberries. The first row we headed down still had a lot of red ones that weren’t ripe so we went a different direction.
And how awesome is BTR? Jude has these phases where he demands BTR carry him. And he was already carrying Ezra’s car seat and I was obsessing over taking photos so he just carried them both. Best dad ever.
We plopped Ezra down in the shade at the end of a row and got to work picking!
I really do think blackberries are my favorite. I mean I love strawberries, but the blackberries are cooler since you are more in the shade and I love how they hang down.
Of course Jude kept calling them strawberries, even though he won’t eat strawberries as we found out when we picked them!
He totally got that we weren’t supposed to pick the red ones and only picked the ripe berries. #proudmama
He tasted a few but didn’t like them. And I wasn’t surprised one bit.
He did love moving them between the boxes though! And he wouldn’t let us carry the boxes either, they were all his!
It was seriously perfect weather and so much fun picking!
Once we filled our boxes we jumped back on the tractor and headed to the main part. When we got back we decided to jump in a different van and head over to the pick your own veggie field and flower fields.
Of course this is also when Ezra started to get fussy and I decided to feed him. There was a tent over some picnic tables and pretty much no one else out there so I grabbed my Milk Snob cover and fed him while BTR and Jude headed to pick some veggies. I also sent BTR out with the camera and I’m pretty impressed with his photo skills! But don’t tell him I said that!
I can’t believe how many different types of veggies are out there to pick! We came home with some green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and kale. And I heard now they have corn available so we have to go back because Jude loves corn and I would love to see him actually pick it!
They also have cut your own flowers! Brandon cut a couple of sunflowers for Jude and also took what might be my favorite picture of the day!
Jude brought me a flower and gave one to Ezra.
We jumped back on the tractor to head back to the restaurant to eat lunch. Somehow I forgot to take pictures (again) of our food, but trust me it was delicious. I had the summer slider trio and I would recommend it to everyone while Brandon ordered the fried chicken (which also happens to be all-you-can-eat).
After lunch we grabbed some custard and I got a concrete mixed with fresh blackberries. Ah-maz-ing. And Jude said he wanted to eat it but then refused to take a bite, you know since he doesn’t like blackberries or ice cream. #notmykid
So since we had about 19846516 pounds of blackberries I had to come up with some things to do with them and clearly my first priority was cobbler! I used a different recipe than last year, but it was still super yummy! No pictures because I made it at night and the lighting was super bad. But trust me it was delicious! My next recipe was much more fun, POPSICLES! Specifically #rotzpopsicles <– yes that is a real hashtag I use on Instagram, no judging! :)
Here is my easy fruit popsicle recipe!
Fruit Popsicle Recipe
3 ounces fruit (blackberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries – pretty much anything!)
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon sugar
I mix all of those ingredients together in our Magic Bullet blender and then pour them into our Zoku Quick Pop Maker and in ten minutes we have popsicles! This recipe makes enough for 3 popsicles that are 2 ounces each. So depending on how many molds you have you may need to double or triple the recipe!
Thank you to Eckert’s for having us out, we had a blast picking blackberries again this year and we are really looking forward to peach picking which should open soon! If you’re local you should definitely make a trip out there to pick some blackberries, peaches, and veggies! Make sure to check Eckert’s Facebook and crop updates to make sure what you want to pick is open, it can change daily!
Eckert’s on the Web
Eckert’s on Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
Eckert’s Crop Updates
Eckert’s Events Calendar
