Monday, July 25, 2011

Summer Blueberries!




Hi! I'm at it again. The food geek who is a huge sucker for farms and picking your own produce. Last year I posted about a trip to Patterson Fruit Farms for strawberries and today I went to Voytko Farms for blueberries. Some of my family and friends(you know who you are) would tell me that this is a colossal waste of time and would remind me that there is a Heinens down the street. There is such a sense of satisfaction from picking your own. Plus, they travel less which helps maintain vitamins and nutrients. Picking your own is also less expensive.



The blueberry season should run another couple weeks. Picking was slimmer than previous years, but, it just takes a little bit of patience. I enjoyed the peace and quiet that you find on a farm. The sound of crickets and frogs lulled me into a sort of picking trance. Occasionally, I would run into a large groundhog hole or bee, but, that comes with the territory.





Voytko Farms is located in Auburn Township. They also have rasperries, maple syrup, and homemade jams. You can find a local farm where you can pick your own at http://pickyourown.org/. Ohio produces more than 200 crops which makes food and agriculture one of our states largest industries. 90% of Ohio farms are family owned.









We ended our 90 degree day at the farm with some cold ice cream in Chagrin Falls , Ohio just minutes away.






This is probably the most amazing ice cream I have ever tasted. The dark chocolate and buttermilk peach flavor are to die for. They have some exotic flavors like a spicy Tai peanut which had a cayenne pepper kick to it. Unfortunately we were so focused on the ice cream I don't have any photos. You will just have to check it out for yourself.