This the season …
Timing is everything, and that isn’t just true for the many yummy fresh fruits on our supermarket shelves and the one Lola discovers in our latest book.
It just so happened that I found inspiration for Lola #2 while snacking away on a punnet filled with fresh strawberries, which the children and I had picked a little earlier from the fields of one of the local farms near my parent’s house.
We have some very picky eaters at home but strawberries are genuine high value currency here. I knew I wanted to write another story about Lola and Ella that’s based around the topic of food. That punnet that I emptied that afternoon gave me the inspiration I needed, because Lola wasn’t going to convince Ella about the benefits of eating carrots and lettuce, but instead our toy bunny would experience a ‘hungry caterpillar’ moment in the fields after discovering the yummiest scrummiest of treats!
It was the perfect setting, inviting for a fun adventure - one that I hope you and your little ones will enjoy and perhaps even inspire your very own trip to a local picking field ?
Indeed, many farms offer for customers to come and pick their own strawberries often at a reduced fee. It can be a fun activity, especially with young kids. Back when we lived in the UK, I used to take my young daughters to Garsons in Esher. Even when strawberry season would be over, there were other seasonal fruits or vegetables the children could pick and add to their little buckets.
If you haven’t done so, I’d highly recommend a trip with the kiddos to a picking field near you.
Have a look at some of the website links below for inspiration.
Fruit Picking in the UK
Visit England lists various fruit-picking farms across the UK
Here you can find some Strawberry Picking Sites in the London area
Garsons in Esher - This used to be our go-to place. They have a beautiful farm shop too as well as a cafe where you can enjoy some of their local produce.
Fruit picking in the UAE
It’s true, most of the UAE is made up of desert, but that doesn’t mean that food can’t grow here. There are many farms across the Emirates, growing various crops from tomatoes and cabbage to eggplant, squash and cucumbers.
Some farms even allow you to visit and pick your own crops or purchase directly through their farm shops.
We recently went to Emirates Bio Farm in Al Ain and after a tour of the fields on the back of a tractor (which my youngest absolutely LOVED), the children got to pick and take home their own cucumbers, tomatoes and capsicum. We kept some of the seeds too. Have a look - can you see what’s currently growing in our back garden?
If you’re based in the UAE and you’re looking to take the kids on a ‘farm adventure’, the lovely team at British Mums Dubai have put together a list of organic farms you can visit. Check out the article here.
Before you go …
If you’ve just purchase a copy of ‘A Yummy Market Day Adventure’, you will have noticed that there’s a recipe for pancakes at the end of the book. I mentioned strawberries as a great healthy addition for the pancakes. But of course, there are lots of other fruits (and veggies) that go well with your yummy pancakes. Feel free to explore because …
you may remember that when growing up, strawberries were one of those fruits which weren’t available all year round.
It’s of course something children these days know very little about (at least mine). For them strawberries are often no more than a ‘click’ on the delivery app away.
Without going into too much detail, if you feel - like me - that our kiddos would benefit from being more aware about nature’s seasonal cycle (and possibly refresh your own memory too), then luckily, there’s plenty of info and resources out there these days to accomplish that. I find the chart below by the Behavior Change campaign to be quite useful.
Do check out their website to learn about the benefits of choosing to eat seasonably.
Hope this all helps. Kathy x
