Strawberry Fields Whenever

How pretty is Scotland in July?

I mean Scotland any time, nearly any place, is pretty.

Nearly any photo you take is instantly calendar-worthy.

But July is just lovely.

That's just a regular 'ol wheat field and it's gorgeous.

Put a handsome 7 year old boy in the shot and the picture gets better!

In the middle of those lovely wheat field is a sweet strawberry patch.

In the middle of the strawberry patch is a lovely man. 

(kiss, kiss--I like him)

So we all went out a' strawberry pickin' one fine July day.

Strawberries!

And I mean all of us...

Baby-wearin', fruit pickin' momma included.

Remember how people pay to go to the gym?

That's crazy junk.

Go get y'allselves a 15 lb. baby,

strap her on,

bend and squat repeatedly harvesting fruit.

You'll have not only a larger wallet 

but thighs like a lumberjack too.

One of my favourite parts is they don't before/after weigh the children who are helping pick.

I don't even want to know how many pounds of strawberries we took home ingested.

Am I the only girl out there who would love a lipstick this exact shade?

 Yum.

Then we thought it'd be cute to get a picture of AirBear in the berry patch... 

 As she's handed her first strawberry of her life...

What in the world..??

 What is this lusciousness?!

And the magic behind the picture is...

grandma.

Airdrie can't sit unsupported, so grandma is a great helper. 

  My pretty momma and my baby girl.

Nothing like a little free child labour...

And my sister offering free pregnant lady labour.

HA! 

Pun totally not intended.

When it came to filling the basket she really delivered.

She really kept pushing through to help us.

We knew she was due to be a good helper.

I'll be here all night folk.

I think I'd call the lipstick colour 

"Freshly Picked"

or 

"Juicy-licious"

or 

"Berry Delight"

Nope, scratch that last one, 

I'm pretty sure that's one of Strawberry Shortcake's friends in Berry Bitty City.

They're still filling baskets.

We may be putting up strawberries for a while...

 Then Caedmon and I ventured off into the raspberry thicket.

Thicket?

That sounds a bit Bambi-esque.

Let's say "bramble."

 Then Caedmon and I ventured off into the raspberry bramble.

Our family loves raspberry jam, so we commenced to picking. 

 Then we found these little beauties--

who knows what they are? 

(major props to the photographer for focusing on the background here)

Gooseberries!

Makes me think of a little restaurant in Penrose, Colorado

The Gooseberry Patch.

Anyone been there?

Anyone?

Bueller?

THEN we found these....

These are black currants.

The famous "grape" of the UK.

Grape juice/flavour is hard to find here and so black currant takes it's place. 

We're not fans of the flavour or juice, but we'd never tasted a fresh one before....

 If I could describe the flavour this would be it:

roast beef with lemons

So as they say round these here parts: 

It wis nae oor cuppa tea.

  

We'll definitely revisit next July.

Once we've depleted our 3 GALLONS of frozen sliced strawberries.