Green containers in hand, we probed carefully, searching for the reddest, the ripest and juiciest strawberries. In spite of the many berries which stained our lips and our tongues, it wasn’t long before the buckets were over flowing and it was time to pay.

We were at Swanton Berry Farmstand, an organic growing and union working farm located on Highway 1 near Pescadero, California.

Inside the farm store, we weighed our berries, calculated our cost, and paid on the honor system before sampling the many jams (blackberry, strawberry, loganberry, etc.) and purchasing berry truffles, a pie, and even berry lemonade.

We ate our own lunch on picnic tables inside the store, perused the many old photos and articles on farming and union labor decorating the walls, and played a few of the old wooden games (you know the one with the small silver ball and the maze and all the holes?).

In August we picked strawberries, but if you come another time of year, you can pick ollalaberries (June), blackberries (July), and kiwis (December).

Trip taken August 2012.