Fields of Joy

So, my daughter and I went with my sister-​in-​law, my niece, and my nephew and some of THEIR friends on a strawberry picking day. We started the day at a local farm where we grew up going to. The strawberries as usual we huge and good. My daughter and I left with 15 lbs (I had no idea what I was going to do with 15 lbs of strawberries). As we left, my sister-in-law’s friend said, «hey, I know of a great place in Anderson, where they’re even better. I researched it, we made a lengthy drive, and showed up to Fields Of Joy…
As we approached, we weren’t sure our GPS had gotten us to the correct place. Then we saw the sign and got very excited. As we pull in, we see 3 other vans there. Yes, vans, this place is a family outing! We go to the backyard (yes, yard. This is where the owners live), and it gets a little muddy. We are always down for muddy!
As we go to the barn, we are amazed by the selection for a family ran small company. Fresh honey, rhubarb (which we ALSO got at the last place, but this rhubarb was actually red, and ripe. The other was still green), basil, strawberry plants, jams of all sorts, and refreshments ALL WAITING TO BE PURCHASED! I’m thinking to myself, this must be heaven! Unfortunately, it wasn’t, we were still in Anderson.
We see a nice woman, behind the counter, interacting with customers like she’s known them forever (MAN, I miss the country living!). There is a man handing out red buckets for us to pick strawberries in, and then leads us out to the fields (he stood and talks to a little girl picking strawberries in the fields). It ends up being much larger than we had originally thought. We go back rows and rows and rows and rows of strawberries, to where he tells us to go, hands us our steaks to mark or progress, and off we go! Woohoo!
Obviously, the first thing you do, is taste the berries. We did it all together… We look at each other, smile, and realize that we had made a huge mistake. We should have come here first. They were the sweetest berries we had ever tasted! Phenomenal! We picked and picked and picked. I think my daughter and I picked another 10lbs of berries (totaling 25lbs for the day, again, had no clue what we were going to do with 25lbs of berries). We also got some basil, because I’m teaching my daughter to cook. Why not grow your own and chop it up!!!
As we come back to the barn, the woman behind the counter finishes up with other fellow pickers, and starts talking to us. She asked how it was, and if we ate strawberries while we were in the fields because „that’s the best part“ she gets a resounding YES! and AMAZING! We tell her this was our second strawberry farm of the day. She laughed and said that it was Ok. Come to find out, Fields Of Dreams has a sweeter varietal of strawberries than the other place. Thanks for the info!(sweeter is always better) Then we apologized to her, swearing our allegiance to them forever and always, even though it WAS a little bit of a drive for us, and that we would make it as often as possible, never going anywhere else for strawberries.
Come to find out, the man and woman are married, and the girl in the fields was their daughter, picking berries as well for their ‘pre-​picked» customers. Sure, just go there and pick up some strawberries (only if you’re short on time and are running low, because picking them yourself is 90% of the fun).
They also recently sold their previous residence, which was LITERALLY one neighborhood away from where I grew up, just north of Indianapolis. They made us feel like family. Thanks guys! Weather that rain, and we’ll see you again soon!!!
With Love,
The Jensen Family
P. S. I sent the other farm’s strawberries to my work for others to enjoy. I kept yours for my family, and told folks at work to only go to you. You guys are the best. Keep up the good work!!!