It was hot on the weekend. I moved my longer run to Saturday morning, which was forecasted to be a bit cooler. I was still a sweaty mess afterwards and needed a cool shower so I would be ready for our 8:30 am departure for berry picking. This is a yearly ritual (see 2024 and 2023). The plan was to get down to the farm at Deans Marsh when it opened at 10 am so we could pick before it got too hot. We arrived at the farm just after 10 am. The gates were closed. This is not the first time we’ve rocked up to closed farm gates. There was also no cell phone coverage to double-check the website, so we turned around and headed back to the General Store at Deans Marsh to check the website and reconsider our plans over some refreshments. As we drove, we passed many signs for the Pennyroyal Berry Farm. A quick website check showed that our usual picking spot, Gentle Annie’s, was now only opening for Friday Night Dinners. Pennyroyal Berry Farm was open and had blackberry varieties, so we decided to take a look. Ten minutes later, we were back outside the locked gate of Gentle Annie’s—I’d put the wrong address into the maps. We turned around again and finally made it to Pennyroyal.
By this time, it was 11 am and hot. I chatted with the lady about their berries, and we decided to see if we could get enough Marionberries. She gave us a bamboo stick each to lift the canes to get at the berries. It was still tough picking, and I ended the day picking prickles out of my arms. The girls and I also ventured into the American Brambles to supplement the Marionberries. Picking took about an hour, and I was a sweaty mess for the second time that day. We weighed our berries and then retired to the airconditioned cafe for scones with jam and cream.
The farm is quite pretty, but the berries were expensive ($32/kg). That still makes the jam slightly more expensive per jar than Bon Maman and cheaper than gourmet offerings, but I’ve found a few farms down Gippsland Way that are cheaper. If we went there, though, we would need to pick when we are in Melbourne. Sunday was hotter than Saturday, so we made the jam on Monday when it was raining.
I needed a nap after the berry picking, so by the time we made it to the beach on Saturday, it was about 4 pm. It was just after high tide, and the water was doing a pretty good washing machine impersonation. There were decent-sized shorebreakers, so we stood on the edge for a few minutes, trying to time our run into the water so we wouldn’t get dumped into the sand. S was unsuccessful, but she popped up and claimed bragging rights for the first to be fully immersed. Not far from the shore, we were over our heads, and with the strong current dragging us down the beach and the suck back with each wave, we spent most of our efforts just trying to stay in the flags and not too far from shore. The beach is rated 8 (highly hazardous) by Surf Life Saving Australia. It is not recommended for swimmers without experience with rips and currents. I did surf lifesaving as a teenager and used to spend most sunny days during the summer holidays down the beach with the other cadets. I only had a few days rostered on patrol. One of those days, we closed the beach because the conditions were so atrocious, and we played cards all day. I would never swim there when there is no patrol.
Swimming lessons until the kids were proficient swimmers were non-negotiable in our house. Since the beach at Point Lonsdale is so dangerous, I also insisted all three kids do Nippers, which is the Junior Lifesaving program. The program is run at Santa Casa Beach, a pretty safe bay beach. One day each year, the older age groups (11-13) would have back beach day. I remember walking down the dune to the beach, seeing E’s group out in the water, and wondering what they were doing in the Escalator, a permanent rip near the reef. Soon, numerous kids were out there, swimming hard and getting nowhere (along with the cadet instructors), and the IRB was launched to start picking them up. Three trips later, E was returned to the beach, one of the last to get “rescued.” Apparently, one of the leaders had decided to send the kids out there so they could ride the Escalator out and then swim across and in. That worked brilliantly for the first group of kids, but by the time it was E’s turn, a strong side current had sprung up, pushing the kids back into the Escalator. I guess they learned some valuable lessons that day: what a rip feels like, how quickly conditions can change and how to stay calm and tread water while help arrives. The IRB got plenty of practice picking up kids as well.
Are you berry pickers or jam makers? Do you like swimming in the ocean? If you have kids, is there an extracurricular activity that is non-negotiable in your house?
Comments
12 responses to “Beach Days, Picking Berries and Making Jam”
I like eating berries, but will admit I am feeling “over” picking them. I didn’t pick any berries this summer at all. And I don’t ever plan to make jam! That said, I ADORE my mother’s raspberry jam, so when she’s no longer able to make it I may have to consider trying my hand at reproducing what she does so perfectly.
Homemade jam is wonderful but not always practical, although it is pretty easy to make.
Swimming lessons are also non-negotiable for us as well. My parents live on a lake and while neither boy seems to be a risk taker, they absolutely need to be able to swim. My parents require life jackets on the dock until you are a proficient swimmer. Another non-negotiable is piano lessons. I haven’t decided how many years they need to take but I will figure that out in time. We plan to enroll our oldest in the fall as he’ll be 7 and I feel like that is a good age to start.
My grandparents had a huge raspberry patch at their home. We had to pick berries on certain days of the week so the berries wouldn’t go to waste. Gosh did I complain and whine about it. It was often hot and muggy and the bugs were terrible. Now I would LOVE to have a huge berry patch! Raspberries are my favorite berry and they are so expensive at the grocery store or at U pick farms.
My had a piano so my kids all learned for at least a little while. I put in a few raspberry canes at our previous house but wasn’t there for long enough to reap thre rewards.
When the kids were little, we used to pick strawberries (strawberry season is March here.) And, two summers ago I visited my sister in Illinois and we picked blueberries. That was really fun- I’m not sure I would love it as much if it involved thorns. I hope your jam came out well!
I do like swimming in the ocean, but haven’t done it in a long time. We don’t live far from the beach, but I just don’t get there as much anymore (once again, it’s something we used to do when the kids were younger.)
THe jam was worth the prickles! It tastes great.
I’m SO impressed at that swimming ability. The ocean can be so risky and you’re so smart to push for the extensive swim lessons. I’m a decent swimmer but I have no experience at all with rips and so I just paddle around on safe beaches.
I do love berries and I do make jam, but haven’t for a while. I’m excited for our berry patch to (hopefully) explode this summer!
Sometimes the rips are so strong it is scary. I especially drilled into the kids never to swim at an unpatrolled surf beach. I would never do that either.
Oh, I love Marionberries! They make the absolute best pie. I have found that I like Bon Maman raspberry better than any gourmet I have found. I always think I will like the gourmet better, and I never do. Raspberry is my favorite jam, though if can get a good Marionberry, I’m all in. In Alaska they have something called a Nagoonberry that is amazing, better than any other, but really rare and hard to get. Once in a while my SIL (who lives in Juneau) will get her hands on some and make some jam, and send me some, which is how I know that she really loves me.
Those ocean swim stories are scary. I’m glad that you are so careful about lessons and swimming where there is someone who can help if you get into trouble. The ocean where we are is cold (50s F) and rough, so we never swim in it. I love swimming in Hawaii where it is warm and there are so many places where it is gentle. I’ve never been caught in a rip tide, now I wonder if I’ve taught my daughter how to deal with it if she does…my husband was caught in one once, it was scary.
I love that your sister sends you jam. Now I want to try Nagoonberry jam, but I can’t imagine when that might happen!
I love making jam but I am not a big jam eater so I never really know what to do with it. I like strawberry jam. I love blueberry jam but I wouldn’t make that one myself. so much berry picking.
But since I didn’t do any jams lately I have no more stock so maybe 2025 is a jam making year. I never went berry picking on a farm. Only from my grandparents garden. Or the woods.
As for the swimming… it sounds dangerous. I don’t consider myself a good swimmer and have always been very cautious getting into the water at an ocean. I can’t read the waves and that doesn’t feel comfortable. I do like swimming in lakes in rivers over pool though. I think it is very smart and great parenting to have your kids really learn the ropes of ocean swimming.
I love jam, but try not to eat too much. I think we made seven jars this year which should do us for the year.