The last pick-your-own strawberries of the season

As of today, strawberries are still available at area pick-your-own farms. However, this will likely be the last week for pick-your-own strawberries. So if you haven't picked berries yet this season, there is still time. Because this year's crop ripened a week or two earlier than normal, many of the area farms held their strawberry festivals this past weekend.

Here's part of our morning's loot from Land's Sake Farm in Weston. Three quarts of dainty berries. They were complex, spicy, with more intense flavors than their grocery store brethren.

It was warm work, hunting for these little ruby gems hidden amongst the leaves. We found tiny berries in one patch. Later, we meandered over to a different patch and found larger berries, ripe and waiting to be picked.

The fun came literally screaming to a halt. We're talking full blown horror movie hysteria. The screams poured from my girl standing petrified in a cloud of angry bees. "Run!" I reached out my hand toward her. For a second, I worried that she wouldn't move. She tends to freeze when anxious, but this time, she burst into action and ran through the swarm. Luckily, she escaped with only two stings.

This is my middle child, my cautious, earnest rules follower. As we walked toward the buildings, she sobbed, "I looked for bees!" The kind staff put some salve on her stings. After getting a drink from the hose (like a real farmer), she was all smiles. By the time we got home, the swelling had mostly gone down, and she was ready to dive into the fresh loaf of sourdough bread and berries we'd purchased.

Our second day of summer. Fresh berries and bee stings. Interesting way to start.