Soergel Orchards Strawberry Festival

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

A friend and I went to the Soergel Orchards' Strawberry Festival near Pittsburgh (Wexford, to be exact). Only 30 minutes away. I did some calling around to Paskorz Farm and Reilly's Summer Seat Farm, but went with Soergel Orchards because they held out on U-Pick strawberries until their festival, which implied to me that they might have better selection. This was important, because as Reilly's Summer Seat Farm's answering machine will tell you, the harsh winter resulted in some tiny strawberries, but terrific blueberries. I guess we know where to go for blueberry picking?

Soergel Orchards was absolutely packed to the gills for the strawberry festival, so even though we got there at 'opening' (i.e., 11am), the first field was completely picked over. Thankfully, there were ~2 more additional strawberry fields for the masses to pick from. And the sugar snap peas were ripe and in abundance! However, we had not expected to wait in the cashier line for 30 minutes. That was ridiculous. But I am a berry picking lover. I cannot resist. Something about spending a couple hours eating as many berries as I'm picking. High on fruit sugars, sun-smelling skin. It's fantastic.

There were additional activities for the kiddos (fire truck rides, anyone?). All this hoopla can be a bit overwhelming to the child-free.

I see strawberry jam in my future.