Pick Your Own Fruit

 

A great way to buy some really fresh fruit and vegetables is to go and pick them yourself. In the last few years an increasing number of farms have been allowing the public to come into their fields to do this. We call it 'Pick Your Own' and you often see signs with the abbreviation 'P.Y.O.' like the one here in Dorset. This farm is called 'Church Farm' as it is located next to the local church.

In a circle around the perimeters of our towns and cities we have a protected area of farmland called 'green belt'. This was set up many years ago to stop the towns swallowing up all the surrounding countryside. No one is allowed to build on this land without special permission. The consequence of this is that you often find small farms like this on the edges of towns. Originally they were needed as it was difficult to transport fresh produce for long distances. Nowadays, in the world of large scale farming and easier transport they are finding it difficult to survive and are trying all sorts of different schemes to earn some extra income.  Many sell directly to the public like this but others become garden centres, horse riding schools or whatever they can think of. With increasing pressure to build new houses the local councils do now sometimes allow housing to be built on some of this land but there is always a lot of local opposition to these plans.

Hanging baskets on the side of these farm buildings. The old stone farm house on this land had been sold off to someone who wanted a charming old country property and the farmer has built himself a new bungalow in a quiet spot overlooking the fields (in the top picture).

Just beyond the farmhouse there were fields for the farmers horses. However it was a hot day and the horses were sheltering under some trees.

At the end of the path were the fields of fruit and vegetables.

I visited the fields in August when the strawberries were ready to be picked. They are grown in raised beds. The fruit is resting on polythene here but traditionally it was grown on beds of straw.

Children enjoy picking the fruit and of course it is good for them to discover that fruit doesn't just come from supermarkets. My young nephew Tom here looks a bit worried that he does not have enough fruit, but eventually he filled the whole basket and was running around happily telling everyone which strawberries to pick. Do you see he is wearing his World Cup shirt? Everyone was wearing football shirts this summer.

On one side of the farm there was a small orchard.

The apples look a bit spotty, but they are big Bramley cooking apples, which taste wonderful in pies.

The plums were also ripening nicely. I tried one, but it wasn't very sweet. It would probably make good jam.

Here many people grow a few rows of runner beans in their gardens. We slice them up and eat them with a roast dinner. Delicious. When they are fresh they have a lovely flavour. You can freeze them, but they never taste the same.

As you can see from the sign, you could also pick rhubarb and raspberries. Some farms also let you pick blackcurrants, peas, tomatoes, sweet corn and even potatoes, when they come into season. As potatoes grow underground the farmer turns over the earth with a tractor first and then you just pick them up from the ground. Here the fruit was only slightly cheaper than they are in the shops, but they taste so much better when they are fresh like this and it makes a good morning out in the countryside.

When you have finished picking you go to this hut to have your fruit weighed and then pay for them. Everyone jokes that you should weigh the children rather than the baskets, as they eat so many, but actually we were so busy picking that we only ate one or two. It was a good outing and the fruit was delicious with sugar and cream later.