Berry Picking Season

Raspberry picking is a labor of love. My love for fresh sweetness packed with full-bodied nutrients means I am putting in all the work in order to reap all of the nutrient-dense rewards. It is quite a different experience foraging food for my benefit and enjoyment. It is amazing how easy we have it. Walking into a grocery store and having everything nicely lined up in pretty packages. Everything at our fingertips with no effort given. But this laziness that we are accustomed to comes at a price. And our health is taking the biggest beating. Although picking my own raspberries was a lot of work that wasn’t even the half of it. I still didn’t have to go through the headache fo growing rows and rows of plants. Tending to their needs every day. Although my back hurt from picking these juicy gems. I would do this work every day if I could.      

Colorado U-Pick Farms

U- pick raspberries is offered at a few places in Colorado including this beauty Garden Sweet Farms in Fort Collins. I haven’t spent much time in Fort Collins so it was nice going somewhere completely new to explore. Fort Collins has a lot of charming qualities that most Colorado major cities have. Like the city life that has easy access to the mountains. But one thing that is different about Fort Collins is the sprawling open spaces of farmland. I never thought berry picking existed in this state. I always thought it was only offered in states like Oregan and Washington. But after some research, I was able to find a handful of u-pick farms sprawled out all across Colorado. An initiative that I hope expands over time.

There Is A Lot More Than Berries

Garden Sweet Farms offers an assortment of raspberries, strawberries, flowers, blackberries, asparagus, basil, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, eggplants, garlic, greens, kale, herbs, lettuce, melons, onions, peppers pumpkins, radishes, spinach, summer squash, winter squash, swiss chard, tomatoes, and turnips. Everything you need for a plant-based diet.  Garden Sweet Farms even uses sustainable and organic growing methods that make all the beauties safe for you and the planet. Plus they offer a number of things from neighboring Colorado farms. Like Palisade peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, potatoes, eggs, bread, jam, and coffee.

If you live locally the best way to enjoy everything Garden Sweet Farms has to offer is to become a member. Memberships give you priority access to Pick Your Own events with other fun benefits. The annual fee ranges from $300-1000 based on family size. I would love to see more of these programs offered across the state of Colorado, and the country. And more people using them.

Farm Lifestyle

I hope these farm life posts are encouraging you more to get out there and support your local farms in your area. The state of our food industry is scary and it is a reality that gets worse every day. It is going to be a constant battle to fight for real food that is not packaged, processed, or frozen. Like the majority of what makes up our supermarkets.

The first step is to start supporting local farmers with these fun U-Pick experiences and at local farmer’s markets. It is also important to stay conscious and educated about what you are putting into your body. The garbage that makes up the center of the grocery store is the most damaging on our health. If we don’t make an effort for change than we will start contracting diseases at faster and younger rates. I hope my posts inspire you to take the first steps to live a more healthy lifestyle by adding more locally-grown plants to your diet. Let me know what you think in the comments and I will have more educational and inspiring posts on these topics soon! Thanks for reading!