Do you love strawberries? I know I do! So, my parents and some family friends set out to find a strawberry-picking farm where you can pick fresh, juicy strawberries yourself!
The farm was about 35 km(around 22 mi) from Bangalore. It took us about one and a half hours to get there. It opens at 9 am, so we reached there pretty early. A road leads to a car park, which is open and spacious. At the farm, it was very sunny, and luckily, we had gotten caps. The car park stands next to a building and a seating area. A little further, there was a man selling tender coconuts, and even further was a lovely, calm place shaded from the sun by a thatched roof. In the seating area were chairs and some granite on the low compound to sit on. There was also a menu of many things made from strawberries ranging from strawberry milkshakes and sodas to strawberry brownies to strawberry jam and even strawberry papads!
The farms themselves were massive. Once we arrived, their official there told us about all the farms and how they don’t use chemical pesticides. This was the best part because we could eat the fruit right after plucking it from the plant. Once we learnt how to pick the fruit(hold the stem, pinch it and gently pull it), we were told about the varieties of strawberries. Each one had a unique taste. We were then given a few baskets to keep the strawberries.
We began going through the fields, with rows and rows of strawberries. The first variety we went to pick was Murano, which grew among a few guava plants(only on that farm, not always). These strawberries were plump, juicy, and tasty, and they were my personal favourite. We tasted a few and picked a lot of these. We then went to pick another variety called Camerosa, which were smaller, more fleshy and had a slightly sour taste. We then selected a few other varieties, like San Andreas and Nabila. Nabila was on the other side of the road.
Once we crossed the road, on the way, we passed by a tamarind tree. We had a lot of fun, taking a lot of pics, picking gooseberries the old style using a stick, and even trying to climb the tree. Before we left, I had a strawberry milkshake, which was nice and cool in the hot sun. We also had a strawberry brownie with the subtle flavour of strawberry.
Overall, I had a lot of fun picking strawberries. Before we left the farms, we spent some time under the thatched roof, sitting on the tarpaulin sheet. It was nice and breezy without the need for any air conditioning.
If you like strawberries and want to spend time with your family and friends, you should go and enjoy this experience.
