Strawberry Picking at Three Sisters Farms

For years Veronica and I have taken our kids to the Three Sisters Strawberry Farm in Suffolk, VA, to pick organic strawberries. The reason we drive a long way to get strawberries that are organic is that this person...



and this person...



as well as Veronica's little people... do not hesitate to eat as many berries as they can, during the process. So, when you're at an organic farm, you feel like maybe your child isn't gulping down handfuls of mustard gas and won't be growing another kidney out the side of its head as a result. Or whatever.

So we get to Three Sisters Farm, and we start picking:



And the berries are HUGE. Massive, perfectly heartshaped berries, elegantly ripe, hanging in perfect, convenient clusters from every bush. And where are the weeds? There are no weeds. I don't know if you've ever been to an organic farm, but it is sort of weedy. In fact, some of the weeds are there on purpose because they help the pH balance or discourage invasive pests or recite pop poetry which the plants find nothing wrong with because, hey, it's entertaining, but the elitist slugs scorn, or whatever. So where, we wondered, were the weeds?

Veronica and I joked around that the Three Sisters people were sneaking in pesticides and just not telling anyone. Har har har. It is to laugh, right? Except OOPS, when Veronica actually investigated, she discovered that *BOO* they actually ARE using pesticides! It's not organic anymore! In fact, Three Sisters aren't even doing the farming -- they leased it out to something called Faith Farms which is slinging pesticides in great, heaping bucketfuls.

Which is why the berries were so nice and huge and perfect and the rows were so even and unweedy and easy to pick from. Which we found out after the children had eaten about a quart each of unwashed, mustard-gas-laden strawberries.

And so had I! I'm expecting a third kidney at any moment.

Fortunately, we still have our friends! And we will all be creepy third-kidney-havers together:



Another plus: the Three Sisters Farm still operates the store and animal farm connected with the property, and they had lots of completely organic baby ducks, turkeys, chickens, a fully organic cow, a couple of organic peacocks and these astonishingly cute organic kittens:









All in all, it was a super fun day with ice cream, candy, kittens, and massive awesome ripe delicious strawberries. I still highly recommend Three Sisters Farms. The berries might not be organic anymore, but you can always eat the kittens without washing them!

Strawberries at Three Sisters

The Three Sisters strawberry farm is on Joshua Road in Suffolk. Here's why it's the best place to pick strawberries this week:

1. Organic strawberries. So when your children are rolling around in the plants, and emerging from the field with red juice dripping down their chins, you don't have to say, "NOT UNTIL I WASH THEM!" It's far back from any major road, so there's no exhaust residue, or dust, or anything on the berries. The rows are a little weedy, but that's organic farming. The weeds aren't hurting anything and the berries are BEAUTIFUL. So lovely. Kissed by the sun.

2. Animals.









The nicest, friendliest, child-proofed-est, sweetest farm animals you ever want to know. The first time we went to Three Sisters, we spent three hours there mooning over the animals. Delightful.

3. You'll meet other homeschoolers! This place is a homeschooler magnet. Veronica and I had our four kids, and we ran into two other homeschool families while we were there last time! Homeschoolers know: Three Sisters Strawberry Farm in Suffolk is the place to go!