This warm weather has no shortage of upside. I called Chiles Peach Orchard to inquire about peach picking and they mentioned peaches aren’t available until June, but that there strawberry patch is in full bloom and open for picking. The only relationship I have had previously with strawberries has been the large container of Driscoll strawberries at Sams Club or Costco. Picking them has always been something I wanted to try, and fate seemed to smack me right in the face.
Chiles Peach Orchard is about 20-25 minutes outside of town depending on traffic and how many speed limits you violate. Even without a GPS, its pretty easy getting there. Once you hit the main road that takes you up to Chiles Peach Orchard, you might notcie a peacock standing in a home’s driveway. I thought it was weird too, but I just had to take a picture:
As you approach the orchard you should definitely see all of the peach trees, or at least some of them. They are very pretty right now and some have growing fruit on them…tiny peaches, yum. I was super excited when I pulled up to the parking lot and saw a sign that offered strawberry donuts and fro-yo inside. They also have Virginia apples (terrific selection) and homemade fudge. I am not a huge fan of fudge, and I didn’t even have the courage to try it at Chiles, but their chewy praline fudge looks good enough to commit a crime for:
They offer already picked strawberries by the quart, but at $4.79 you are better off getting them at the price fixed farmers market. Strawberries you pick are sold for $2.59/lb if my memory serves me right. And yes they do accept credit cards. Pick up one of the cardboard trays at the cash register and walk across the road to the strawberry patch. Just look for all of the adults/kids bending over in the field.
My advice in picking strawberries is:
- look underneath the big strawberry leaves for berries that are shaded from the sun
- the strawberries should be red all over…some of them will have a green tip…they need a couple more days to marinate
- the tinier, the better the taste. don’t get all selfish and try to grab the big ones…baby everything is better in food:
- mini brussel sprouts
- baby carrots
- baby lamb
- the list goes on and on
[pic from Spicy Bear on Flickr]
Related posts:
- The Epic Memorial Day Weekend Preview
- Has anyone hooked up at Carter’s Mountain Orchard?
- Common Mistakes of New Graduates Living and Working in Charlottesville
how was the ice cream?
AWESOME!
We tried to go Sunday before last and were informed that 250 girl scouts had just been there and had picked ALL of the strawberries. Guess they grew back.
haha, shenanigans has another new enemy in 2 wks (co worker + girl scouts) girls in cville beware!
My coworker is not my enemy, she’s actually a friend who just has an annoying habit. But yes, I have already gotten all those Girl Scouts’ addresses, and burned all their houses down.
Don’t forget Little Miss Bites-A-Lot. (Okay, so I think they said the squirrel was a boy, who cares?)
Squirrelface gets no more treat from me. PS my chompy coworker almost ran over the peacock in that photo the other day. Apparently, it likes to hang out in the road.
Did you get to see his illegal dump while you were there?
You have to pay extra for that.
Perv.
the dump is at the cherry orchard in Batesville. that opens june 12 according to the e-mail I got (the orchard, not the dump)
I went last Saturday. It’s much more expensive than the pick your own places in Raleigh that I went to a few weeks ago. Also, the fields are really picked over (I’m sure to ensure a supply of the very overpriced berries) and it took me 2 hours of solid picking to get 10 lbs of decent berries.
It was the damned Girl Scouts!!!
my friend went this weekend & said they were really picked over too.
Its really not that hard to grow strawberries. Tenacious little bastards, they.
Yoda, I am.
Ahem.
not entirely related … but i have heard rumors of puppets being used in the second show at Live Arts this fall: Gypsy.
not sure how it will end up, but maybe your dream of seeing puppets on the C-ville stage will soon be coming to fruition!
or if this ends up not happening, i sincerely apologize for potentially having raised your hopes in anticipation.
“Rumors of Puppets” is the working title of my autobiography.
ahahahahahahaha
actually my ahahaha was at #16
I live in an apartment with zero outdoor space and a penchant for making jam. Picking berries myself is really the only option.
You dont have windows?
You can plant strawberries at my house
are there any other places to pick strawberries around here? or is this the only-est option?
right across the street from blue ridge brewery is a strawberry patch with “pick your own strawberries sign” definitely under the radar and much less crowded than chiles. not sure on price though…
I picked strawberries last weekend (on Saturday morning) and when I called to make sure they had ripe berries, I was told that they would probably not last the weekend last weekend, but they did have berries. I picked 7.5 pounds (2 pies, one batch of plain strawberries for cheesecake and straight up.) They told us last weekend that there were a lot of green/white berries and they needed the sun to ripen. Hopefully after the gorgeous weather this week, there will be plenty of berries.
Worth a quick phone call to see if they are picked out before you head over. But if they aren’t, the berries are so worth the trip.
i hate your gravatar. It’s the Britney Spears of gravatars. I’m really sorry but it is.
I know a lot of people are complaining that Chiles is “picked over” and complaining about the number of berries. Having picked there for the past few years I can tell you that normally, there is no problem filling a flat (and that their berries make wonderful jam). I called the orchard this morning and was told that the cold, wet spring is causing the low numbers of berries but that they berries they have are “real nice.” I hope we can stop blaming the orchard owners and Girl Scouts now….
It’s more fun to blame a pack of 250 Girl Scouts.