playbook
Picking strawberries in June
An hour at a pick-your-own farm in June. Overflowing trays of strawberries for half the shop price and kids with hands they can't get clean.
2u
duration
€ 10–30
budget
Ground
pace
A pick-your-own farm in June is the most accessible farm outing there is. You pay at the entrance for an empty tray, you walk out into the field, you pick until the tray is full, and you pay at the exit by weight. No plastic packaging, no foil, no shop lighting. Strawberries warm from the sun.
What makes it special is how much better they taste than supermarket strawberries. A strawberry picked from the plant that same afternoon has a deep, almost grape-like tartness that a supermarket strawberry loses in transit. Kids discover that difference within three minutes and keep eating for a full hour. By the end you have three kilos, half the shop price, and hands that won't come clean for four washes.
Checklist
0 of 5
Pluktuin opgezocht in jouw regio
Cash of pin voor de uitbetaling
Per gewicht
Petje of hoed
Tegen de zon op het veld
Lichte schoenen
Klei kan plakken
Appelmoes-pannen klaar thuis
Voor de helft die niet onbeschadigd thuiskomt
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by PlayTryBe team
Friday evening: find a pick-your-own farm in your area. Pluktuinen.nl has a map. Reserve a spot where possible.
0Saturday morning 9am: set off. Arriving at a pick-your-own farm at ten to eleven is the sweet spot. Early enough for the best strawberries, not so early you feel rushed.
At the entrance: grab empty trays, no more than you can fill in an hour. Two per person is usually enough.
5Walk four rows into the field before you start. The rows at the front have already been picked clean by people in a hurry.
First five minutes in the row: don't touch anything, just look. Which strawberries are truly ripe, which are not yet. A white base near the crown means too early.
A child eats a strawberry straight from the plant. The discovery that it tastes better than at home opens up a whole new category for them. No need to explain, just let it happen.
Picking: tilt gently, don't pull. If you feel resistance, leave it, it's not ripe.
Suggestion: A ripe strawberry comes away in your hand without any pulling.At the exit: weigh, pay. Ask whether they also have jam strawberries, the smaller or slightly damaged ones at half price. Perfect for jam.
20A pick-your-own farm is not a shop and not an agri-tour. It's doing work that others usually do for you. An hour of picking yourself shows just how much labour goes into every tray of supermarket strawberries.
For anyone copying this
Do as we did
Suggestions
- Go early, before 11. In the afternoon it's hot and the best rows have already been picked.
- Don't pick from the first two rows, those are for people in a hurry. Go four or five rows into the field.
- A small tray for eating on the way, a large tray to take home. Keep them separate.
- Set out an applesauce pan at home, because something always gets bruised on the way back.
Variations
- - Frambozen in juli: zelfde principe, andere kleur handen.
- - Pruimen in augustus: hogere bomen, ladder nodig, andere kinderen-dynamiek.
- - Bramen in september: gratis langs de slootkant, geen pluktuin nodig.
- - Solo: een uur in een pluktuin alleen is een verbluffend ontspannen ervaring.