I’ve been called “The most domesticated 23 year old on the planet,” and I’m convinced that a recent berry picking outing contributed heavily to that notion. Nonetheless, it was a good excuse to jet out of the city for a day, and I knew a few baked goods would be in it for me if I tagged along.

Read more after the break…

Our original plan was to truck out to Long Island, but a last minute epiphany saved us the pain of beach going traffic, and instead charted our course deep into New Jersey. We pulled up at this little shack, not sure what to do, when a happy farmer tore around the corner in his 4×4 gator. “Head out to the last rows,” he said, “there’s still plenty of good raspberries left to pick!”

So pick we did, weaving our way up and down the brambles until we (or more appropriately Lauren) had filled enough cartons to satisfy our cravings. A few extra purchases from the shack rounded out the haul to 6 cartons of berries, two bags of blackberies, some peaches, and a few onions thrown in for good measure. The farmer was so happy to see us so happy, and invited us back to his homemade wine making course. He said it was as easy as picking your own grapes, then dropping them into his machine that de-stemmed and juiced them. “Not as romantic as the stomp method,” he cautioned “but I think the guests would rather drink wine while they make wine.”

We all agreed.

From the farm, we staved off grumpiness with a local lunch complete with pulled pork sammies, then drove around without a destination in mind. Somehow we stumbled upon a little town called Seargentsville, and rummaged around trying to find a few geocaches nearby. After about an hour, we thought we were skunked, until Lauren nabbed the little camoed capsule suspended deep within a thicket of trees. Needless to say we were proud. A bit more driving led us to a roadside creek, so we decided to stash the car and venture down into the wild. It’s amazing how lush it can be just an hours drive outside of the city, and we enjoyed a little hike up the dried creekbed (complete with fish, frogs, butterflies, and mosquitoes a plenty).

Thoroughly exhausted, we piled back into the rented Fiesta and made our way home. A few hours later, the Jam was ready, and life was good.