Long Island Adventures: Raspberry Patches

Oh, how I long for acres and acres of farmland, rotating my crops in different fields year after year. People think I'm insane when I tell them I'd love to be a farmer, but if it was possible, I absolutely would. Every time William and I drive out east to Lewin's Farms, I envy the amount of fields that family owns. I wish I owned that much land and had enough help to run you-pick farms each season and a small marketplace for the locals.

Strawberry picking was not successful this summer because New York/Long Island never had a proper spring season. Instead, we had unseasonably cold weeks followed by immediate warming of the weather. When we made our trip out towards Riverhead in June, we opted to just buy whatever strawberries Lewin's had for sale in their market.

Last week, we decided to go back and pick peaches, seeing as the peach season normally begins in the middle of July. However, our lack of a spring halted this season, too, and we found ourselves picking raspberries, instead. Raspberries are my absolute favorite fruit, so of course this wasn't a problem, but I found myself dreaming of owning my own raspberry patch, complete with rows and rows that seem to trail on forever.

That evening, I went to visit William's parents down at the docks. They were crabbing, but it wasn't a very successful night. The weather was perfect, though, and it was a great way to end the day.