Strawberry Picking Picnic

There's high anticipation on the bluff for strawberry season, with it kind of being the kickoff to the fruitful season that lies ahead for the farms here each summer. Strawberries are such a good crop to get your kids hooked on picking too, because the berries are big and it's easy to fill a flat pretty quickly.

For a fun summer outing, head out to your favorite u-pick berry farm and make a day of it - berry picking, followed by a picnic in the strawberry field.

For a simple and tasty picnic, start with packing up some Turkey and Strawberry Jam Baguette Sandwiches:

1. Slice baguette in half, down the middle making a top and bottom for your sandwiches.
2. Cut the bread to any size length you want.
3. Spread bottom with dijon mustard, top with turkey, sliced provolone cheese, arugula, spread strawberry jam on top half, and wrap. Or you can pack tiny jars of jam and spread on your sandwich when you're ready to eat.

For a special treat, make Strawberry Piesticks in advance for your picnic:

1. Roll out your favorite piecrust and cut into strips about 1.5" wide x 4-5" long.
2. Carefully spoon or pipe strawberry jam down the center of half of the strips, leaving an open edge on all four sides.
3. Wet open edge with water (you can do this by tapping your fingertip into a bowl of water and dabbing the water on the edge of each jam covered strip).
4. Top the jam-filled strips with remaining pie crust strips and gently press edges together. Gently press all along edges with a fork to seal. Poke holes on the top of each piestick with a fork, allowing steam to escape while baking. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until the Piesticks are golden brown, approximately 15 minutes.
5. Cool completely and pack for your picnic.

Pack a jar of Nutella for dipping the Piesticks and your fresh-picked strawberries!

Pack up some drinks, a quilt or two, and you're ready to enjoy your day of berry picking and picnicking.

Notes:

You can find my favorite piecrust recipe here. For a similar recipe and technique of mine for making piesticks, click here.

Sources:

Tiny jars of Bonne Maman jam, Cawston Press Sparkling Rhubarb Juice, Nutella and Weck Jar were all sourced at Cost Plus World Market. World Market is one of my favorite sources for picnic supplies!

Wonderful canvas linen: Raw Material Designs.

Parchment paper: The Container Store.

Today is the beginning of a week of posts all about strawberries! Stay tuned tomorrow for another post dedicated to this special little fruit.

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Between posts on my website, and all year long, I'm preparing for The Farm Chicks Vintage & Handmade Fair. You can read alI about it here. I also document my life on Instagram. You can follow along with me there.

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