U - Pick Fruits Day

Now is ' ripe ' time of the year for cherries & berries, even peaches & apricots. Last year we missed the cherries & strawberries. They seem to be a favourite among fruit lovers and disappear faster than the rest! And maybe because they don't hold well when the weather gets warmer. Jenis buah cepat rosak. I guess that's where the farmers got the idea of U-Pick or Pick-your-Own .... besides the zero labor cost, of course! We only managed blueberry picking last year when we were in Boston. And, when Rusminah & family were here in November there were only 'picked' citrus fruits at Brentwood. So, her children did not have fun picking them off the trees. I hope the pictures in this posting can entice them to come and visit us in June pulak. :-) Itu pun, if we are still staying here..
There are cherry farms at almost every corner in Brentwood.
This year we don't want to miss the boat. Cherry picking starts early June and like Pak Mat said, within 2 weeks they'll be gone! We couldn't go picking with his family during the Memorial Day long weekend as we had something on then. Kena pergi ramai2 ke kebun buah nie.. kalau boleh 'picnic' lagi la seronok. Teringat pulak zaman2 tunggu buah durian ( kami sebut..deghian ). Siap dengan nasi, or pulut with santan and air garam... of course with gula sikit to be sprinkled on top. Kalau dapat isi warna kuning pekat and tak der biji tu lagiii seghonok! Yummiee..... Kait buah rambutan pun best jugak ...
ANnyway, we were glad when Marcus wanted to arrange a trip to Brentwood with Shahril & Amida as well. Marcus is a Malaysian from Sabah & his wife Cynthia from Taiping - near my old kampung Selama - tempat banyak deghian! :-) There's Cynthia on the left putting suntan lotion on Mathew. Yes, it was exceptionally hot that day.
We also met their friend On and his family. They are from Johor. Both Marcus & On have been living in US almost 20 years .. so they are already pros at fruit picking. Like us,.. Shahril & Amida will leave when due, or bila di- arahkan and like me, Amida doesn't have a clue the difference between pokok peach and pokok cherry from afar! ;-) Cynthia says : Pick the big2 blackberries yang warna hitam. Kalau yang merah tu.. masam! True enough, the black ones are sweeet walaupun kecik. Next stop the cherrieees! I love them even though they give me gas and cleanse my bowels ever so often. Tak sangka pulak there are many types: Bing Cherries(merah), Rainier ( a bit yellowish ), Black Tart ( hitam, rasa macam kismis ) and Stark Rimson, to name a few. The trick in fruit picking is, when you get to a good tree with the fruits that you like, stick to it! So, pokok yang dah togel2 tu buahnya surely sweet & sedap. And, you can also know the good ones if squirrels or birds got them earlier than you. Makan lah sepuas2nya until your tummy can hold, then you pay for the balance. Most of the fruits are claimed to be pesticide free but bawa jer la botol air untuk basuh, just in-case. And, yang mana suka menyicah tuu you can bring 'salt' if you like. Nobody can stop you! As done by a Filipino man I saw at the cherry farm. Tak terfikir langsung nak bawa garam. Real veteran! Cherries on the farm cost 2 dollars per pound. These days fruit farmers are getting smarter, they have a limit on the minimum weight and charge for the box! Like this strawberry farm which is currently owned by a China-man. You can't help smiling reading their ground rules... I don't quite fancy petik buah strawberry sebab kena bongkok2 - oghang lamaa! So I just leave the picking to my children & hubby. Even the small strawberries at this farm is sweet. My hubby says strawberry memang banyak antioxidant and according to Pak Ngah (his tukang urut back home), the fruit will be masam once it leaves the farm. No wonder we never get sweet strawberries from the kedai... mahal pulak tu! Senang jer jawapan nya kalau buah dah benyek2...buat ais krim! Yes... I have done that! I tried with the strawberries we brought home. Jadii......... Macam ais krim Ben & Jerry's. Once I get the measurements right, I will post it... sedap! Tak payah guna mesin ais krim ... your old faithful cake mixer or blender will do ! And, the ingredients are easily available. Dah tentu halalan toiyiban..
On the left above: Message loud and clear..!
If possible go fruit picking on a Saturday because mostly everybody will go on that day. The trees will need time to ripen the remainder of the fruits. We went on Sunday because we couldn't make it the day before... since it is early in the season, the 'catch' was still good. Another fruit picking tip to remember : Wear a hat or cap especially at the strawberry patch. Teringat pulak strawberry2 kat Cameron Highlands!

My fruit - pickers taking a break to pose





Dah terlampau banyak makan buah! :-)








Ayam kampung yang gemuk2...







You can only see this type of vintage car at the farms...













Last stop was at the Peach
farm... kalau betul2 dapat yang manis, memang sedap!






Finally... resting after a hard days work under a donno what tree!

Fruit Farms in Brentwood... with Rose's family

It was nice of Haniza forwarding me her recommended website links to fruit picking, when I voiced my search to her. The best is http://www.harvest4u.com/ where it brings us to the farms in Brentwood - a bountiful agricultural region home of almost 40-something local farms. Of course, most of the fruits ( except oranges & nuts) are out of season at this time of year and Pick-your-Own is definitely out of the question. The place would be lovelier in the months of May onwards, during Spring and Summer, but we wanted to try our luck with picked fruits and I thought it would be good experience too for the children to view the countryside... kampung la tuu! And besides, Brentwood is just about 1 hour drive from Cupertino... jadi tak la jauh sangat. It is north of San Jose and located between San Francisco on the West and Stockton on the East. Smith Family Farm is busy with Christmas Trees and creating Christmas gift packages this time of year. They only have tomatoes, corn and nuts in their shop. It is here that we can see and meet ramai 'Mat Salleh'... tapi pekerja am nya pulak ramai Mexicans... hmm, macam kita jugak, terpaksa ambil outside help! Gursky Ranch is run by Mr Gursky and family. Pictures on the left is him and his daughter entertaining us at the counter. Cucu dia comel sangat... Mrs Gursky is somewhere in the shop. Their shop is filled with honey, apple cider and nuts - almonds, walnuts, raisins, pecans, pistachios. The Gurskys were nice enough to give us directions to another farm - peterwolfe.com, when I enquired about oranges and limes and even call them up to inform of our arrival. The local farms here are mostly family run and I guess they know their neighbours very well. I also understand that they are members of Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust which is like their own Persatuan Petani. Bersatu teguh! Remember..? :-) Alienation and unhealthy competition would definitely kill them! Their logo is Buy Fresh, Buy Local. The idea is for customers to come and buy at the farms, meet the farmers and enjoy the delicious variety of seasonal fruits. That way the fruits don't have to travel a long way, no need for middle-men and of course price would be cheaper! They also cater for deliveries if any individuals, markets or restaurants call up to order in advance. I believe our Pasar Tani used to have a similar concept..but what happened? Take Pasar Tani kat Stadium Shah Alam for example...sayur layu, ikan tak segar and harga mahal! Tahun lepas la...tahun ni mungkin berubah. Teringat masa-masa menyusuri jalan-jalan Ulu Selangor, Ijok, Banting dan kawasan sekitarnya... tak kurang dengan pokok buahan dan hasil tani. Kat sini belum jumpa lagi Dragon Fruit..alaa, buah yang isinya warna merah, didalam ada biji halus-halus warna hitam...rasa macam buah kiwi dan kaya dengan vitamin C. Sedap...tapi mahal! Bentuk pokok macam kaktus. Hish..nostalgia pulak. AnyWayy, ..... We didn't get to meet Mr Wolfe, however Mrs Wolfe and his daughter were around at the shack. We were not allowed to pick so we just took pictures, under the watchful eyes of a worker! I don't really know the difference between orange / tangerine / or mandarin. I simply call them 'limau'!

Anak bujang Rose yang 'pemalu'....

Berry Picking & ignorant 'mat salleh'

After the scare that Atiqah gave us at the Children's Hospital, we thought of de-stressing ourselves with some 'intensive work' of picking berries. Lagi pun kami tak ada peluang berjalan-jalan semasa hari kerja, jadi hari minggu saja-lah yang boleh kami tengok keindahan alam ciptaan Allah ni. Bagi saya, daripada pergi 'shopping' yang akan menjana lagi ekonomi negara ni, baik la buat aktiviti-aktiviti yang macam gini! Sunnycrest Farm is situated in New Hampshire which is like one and half hour drive from our house. We missed the cherries and strawberries; apples as well peaches are still not due until early September. So we opted for blueberries & raspberries which are after all very high in antioxidant; which the 'mat sallehs' are very well aware of looking at their turnout at the farm. Pick Your Own (PYO) blueberries cost $2.25 per pound, however raspberries cost a bit more - $4.50 per pint. Pokok blueberries mengingatkan saya akan pokok kopi yang mak dengan arwah ayah tanam sekeliling rumah di Selama semasa kecil dulu. Kena berperang dulu dengan nyamuk kalau nak kutip biji kopi yang dah masak tu... Pokok raspberries pula lebih rendah dan merimbun. Upon entering the farm we were greeted with hi-s and friendly smiles from several other fellow pickers which to me was very welcoming indeed! My initial thought, "Ooo..orang New Hampshire ni lebih ramah..."

Notice the apples and grapes ... but they are not ready yet for picking.

Picking and eating is permissible at this kind of farms, but how much can you eat blueberries that taste a bit sour-ish?. The big ones however, taste sweeter. But, I would much prefer them with a squeeze of lime and honey. Lagi sedap! Of course, the children would go for blueberry cake and muffins which Anis is getting the 'hang of it' in making. Masuk jer http://www.marthastewart.com/ or ...ask recipes from Sairah Glick and Yasmin Saulnier's oven - they'ld be everwilling to share them!

Overall, it was a good day and experience at Sunnycrest Farm except for the statement made by the lady in the checkered shirt - "They might be terrorists! " - which I regretted overhearing and too shocked to respond.
We left the place with me feeling remorse. I could have at least said.."Get out of your peanut shell, you ignorant mat salleh!!!"