Picking your own fresh fruits and vegetables is such a great family activity. We are fortunate to live in Southern California where we can pick fresh produce almost all year long, but right now is the high season for picking in many parts of the country. This makes for a great summer activity to help keep the kids busy, show them where our food actually comes from, and teach the importance of supporting local farmers.

Did you know that there’s a website dedicated to helping you find all of the “pick your own” farms near you? Just visit PickYourOwn.org and click on your state. The site then breaks it down even further by county or region and also provides the local crop calendars. This site is a great learning resource for everything having to do with farms. It provides explanations of all the different categories of organic and pesticide-free growing and even shows you how to preserve your crops after you pick them.

Underwood Family Farms is one of our favorite local places to take the kids. Even when we lived farther away we would road trip to this farm because it is the most family-friendly spot around. Not only can you pick your own crops, but you can spend an entire day there feeding animals, seeing live animal shows, buying fresh produce from their market, and checking out dozens of rides and activities that kids of all ages love.

On this particular day, my Mom (Nona) was visiting from Michigan and got to spend some quality hours bonding with my five-year-old son, Grayson. They took a tractor ride out to the strawberry fields and had a unique experience picking their own berries together.

This was a special day for Nona and Grayson and I highly recommend this activity to all families. Not only did Grayson have a memorable time, he also learned to appreciate those yummy strawberries much more! Underwood Family Farms has two locations in Southern California and you can click here for all the details, crop calendars, hours and pricing about picking your own crops in Moorpark, and here for the Somis location. Have you ever done fruit and vegetable picking where you live? I’d love to hear what types of farms and activities you have in your area!

Thanks for reading! xoxo, JB