Why Pick Your Own?

I went with my kids and a girlfriend to do one of our favorite things-- pick berries.
We picked berries as children.  I loved doing it, but my childhood friend remembers it as an internment in a work camp.  Lucky for me, my two youngest still love to pick berries.
Some may wonder, why pick berries when I could get them at the store?  The reasons are many.

1. The berries we picked today were half the price of the berries I could get at the store.  My girlfriend freezes them whole and uses them in smoothies for her girls all year long.  My kids love strawberry freezer jam, so that's how I use mine.
2. The berries that we picked were grown less than 25 miles from my home, unlike the conventionally grown California berries at the store.  I can't imagine the cost of the fuel that went into bringing those berries to the store.
3. I have first hand knowledge of the fields where these berries were grown.  This is my friends patch of choice.  Its mine now too.  I liked looking for the berries in the weeds.  Those weeds were a sign that these berries hadn't been doused with chemical weed killers.
4. I liked the teenagers who worked the fields.  Next summer, one of my own teenagers could be working those fields.  I like giving my money to someone who spreads it throughout the local community.
5. It is important to support diversified farming.  Relying solely on California strawberries, shutting out local growers, puts all the strawberries in one basket.  A truly bad strawberry year in California would result in no strawberries for the season.  Strawberries grown closer to home reduces the risk of no strawberries at all.
6. It is an experience my kids will always remember, whether they do so with fondness or chagrin.

Good, cheap food, found close to home, that doubles as a way to keep a bunch of kids busy.  What isn't there to love about picking your own?