The Square Peg reviews….Pips Pick Your Own.

One of my most favourite activities to do in the summer is to go Strawberry picking.

Why go Strawberry picking?

For me, it is the quintessential British summertime activity. Strawberries are a thing of beauty and conjure up memories of the Wimbledon tennis tournament where it is legendary to have strawberries and cream. Living in Devon, Strawberries are a vital part of the traditional Cream Tea. Scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam is the most delicious combination.

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Pips Pick Your Own

Pips Pick your own Farm is about a ten minute drive from where we live. They have a customer kiosk where you collect your punnets from and pay for the fruit that you pick. They also sell honey, ice creams and a selection of fruit and veg that has already been picked.

As much as Strawberry picking time is the busiest, they also have lots and lots of other things to pick. We particularly like picking peas, Matthew and I just love eating the peas straight from the pods. They never even make it to the saucepan.

There are also Raspberries, Gooseberries, Blackberries, potatoes, Asparagus, onions, garlic and lots more organic fruit and veg to choose from.

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Does the Square Peg like it?

I have taken Edward there since he was a baby in a sling. He adores going strawberry picking. He knows he has to collect an empty punnet from the kiosk and this year we had a breakthrough, in that he knows to only pick the red ones.

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When I went Strawberry picking when I was a child I just ate and ate and ate loads of Strawberries whilst I was picking them. So, naturally, I thought that my own children would follow suit and be strawberry fiends like me…

Edward gets very excited and loves looking for ‘fully red’ strawberries to pick, but he must be the only person I know who completely, point blank refuses to even lick a Strawberry that he has picked! Who even does that? He absolutely has no compulsion to want to try it.

Edward’s dietitian recommends that he has opportunities to play with food. The idea being, that he gets used to different textures, smells etc and that eventually, one day, he may even decide to taste it, you never know…..so going strawberry picking is an ideal activity for this.

Have you taken your kids strawberry picking? How has your autistic child reacted to strawberry picking? I’d love to hear from you so let me know in the comments.