Editor’s Note: A Moment for the Strawberries
Image Source: @kelseyheintzistyping
Image Source: @kelseyheintzistyping
Image Source: @kelseyheintzistyping
Image Source: @kelseyheintzistyping
I don’t know if it’s the increase in temps, the increase in to-dos for Maycember, or my personal increase in incessant scrolling (of the doom variety or otherwise), but something these days is making me feel the need to unplug it all and plug it back in again. Typically at a time like this, I’d have a beach trip on the schedj and just look forward to a good ol’ fashioned factory reset of that sort. But even with a vacation on the horizon, I’ve been needing a more immediate fix for this scrunchy energy.
And that instant-gratification craving is probably a direct symptom of the aforementioned scrolling, but I digress.
Here’s my antidote in the meantime: a morning on the farm. I love a PYO fruit situation, and Greater Richmond has quite a few nearby options for such a leisurely, back-to-basics way to spend an hour or more. In the summer and fall, I’ll make a bonafide roadtrip of the experience and head to Chiles Peach Orchard or Carter Mountain Orchard (respectively), but when strawberries are in season, it’s easy to stock up a little nearer down the road.
At the beginning of this month, I packed up the kiddos and headed to Chesterfield Berry Farm. My oldest has been so psyched to do this since Mays past, it’s become one of our family’s favorite springtime traditions. I dressed up and wore a pair of strawberry earrings just for the occasion this time around! We set out on our adventure, eventually headed down a dusty road following the farm’s entrance sign, kept driving, wondered if we were lost, kept driving some more, finally found the field, parked the car in the spacious lot, lathered on some sunscreen, and snagged a couple of festive red baskets to start collecting our juicy gems.
One of the best things about this kind of outing is how peaceful-sounding it can be. You know those “life without trending audio” bits? It’s that. It’s real life! (Seriously, someone please disconnect my internet — I just had to reference a TikTok trend about getting outside to emphasize the beauty of getting outside…??) There are your sneakers shuffling in the sand between leafy rows of berries, there’s the chatter of surrounding berry-pickers happily scoping out their selections, and in my case, there are two little ones excitedly saying, “Look!” before choosing every single ripe one (or every single not-so-ripe one, because they’re little ones, after all).
Then there’s how peaceful the simplicity of the activity itself is; you’re strolling, you’re soaking in the sun, you’re perusing. It’s slow and steady. It’s perfectly at odds with thinking ahead, worrying, or whatever else might be happening upstairs when life feels especially cluttered.
Let this be your sign to slow down for a minute, too. The thing about spring — and life, really — is that there’s Always Something. Give yourself a couple hours for real nourishment; strawberries are jam-packed with antioxidants and vitamins, and taking time to handpick each one yourself is jam-packed with calming the hell down. Savor all that sweetness.
(And I’m not just writing all this because Kline’s Dairy Bar *could technically* be on the drive back to Richmond if you want it to be.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kelsey is RVAx co-owner and editor-in-chief. She moved to Richmond in 2018, settling(ish) first in Scott's Addition, then in Church Hill, before finding a suburban spot that gives her and her family just a bit more room to grow. You can usually find her reading yet another thriller or rewatching whatever Friends episode she rewatched least recently.
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