We picked strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, tayberries (apparently a blackberry-raspberry hybrid) and then headed to the veg patch for courgettes, beetroot and french beans. Blackcurrents were also in season but a bit picked over and onions, spinach and swiss chard were available too.

Here is a picture of our haul:

We started out by accidentally picking off-limits strawberries (I guess they’d just been sprayed with pesticides–eek!) so we got some REALLY nice ones. Otherwise the strawberries were a bit picked over. Blackberries had literally just come in season today so we got lucky on that. We were told the best day to go is Tuesday because the farm is closed Monday.

This really is such a brilliant thing to do with your kids. Every query of “shall we pick some (insert vegetable)?” was met by “I love (insert vegetable)!” and finding ripe raspberries was like a treasure hunt. It was really fun. Maybe I had the most fun!

Afterward we went home to make jam. I’ve never made jam but this recipe by Jamie Oliver looked super-easy and they sold jam sugar at the farm. I’m just not sure we cooked it all long enough because nothing is quite firming up. The jars are all in the fridge now so we’ll see…

Here are our lovely clean strawberries.

Here they are mashed up on the stove.

And once they’ve been cooked up.

This is the mixed berry jam before cooking. I mean, YUM.

We made LOTS! I followed Jamie’s preserving method mentioned in the barbecue sauce recipe from the Jamie’s America cookery book. Submerge the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. The lids all popped down, so I’m hoping this won’t kill us later…

Finally, we made labels.

Highly recommend!

Taking kids to a farm and showing them how food grows is a great way to get them excited about eating healthfully. Not to mention it is GREAT value for money. You can expect to pay around £3.50-£4 per kilo for PYO strawberries (almost half what you’d pay in many supermarkets).

It seems like a brilliant coincidence that my Netmums Camden newsletter came with a link to a section on PYO farms. If you’re in Camden, here are Netmum’s closest recommendations. For everyone else, PickYourOwn.info offers a map of every farm in the country!

SummerActivitesforKids.co.uk also has some great ideas for getting kids excited about the day out, like planning a menu of what you’ll make with your fruit. It also offers a checklist of tips (don’t forget the sun cream!)

And if you can’t get out to a PYO this summer remember it’s not all about strawberries – you can pick other crops throughout the year–just check the websites for details.

Fruit
At its best: apricots, blackcurrants, blueberries, broadbeans, cherries, gooseberries, peaches, raspberries, redcurrants, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon

Coming in: figs, plums, peaches

Veg
At its best: asparagus, aubergines, basil, beetroot, cavalo nero, courgettes, fennel bulbs, garlic, globe artichokes, lamb’s lettuce, lettuce, new potatoes, peas, peppers, potatoes, radishes, samphire, sorrel, spinach, swiss chard, watercress

Coming in: broccoli, cabbage, celery, sweetcorn

Meat
At its best: lamb

Coming in: autumn lamb, grouse

Fish
At its best: crab, halibut, salmon, tuna

American strawberry shortcake – The classic American summer dessert. I’ve simplified this recipe from Waitrose.

Ingredients
250g self-raising flour
50g butter, diced
50g caster sugar
100-150ml milk

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Lightly butter a 20cm-diameter cake tin with a removable base. Sieve the flour into a large bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and rosemary and stir in enough milk to draw the mixture into a soft dough. Knead briefly until smooth. Roll out lightly on a floured surface, and gently press evenly into the prepared tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until risen, firm to the touch and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Serve with heaps of sliced strawberries sweetened with caster sugar and whipped cream.

Strawberry jam – Try this dead-simple strawberry jam recipe from Jamie Oliver.

Ingredients
1 vanilla pod
1kg strawberries, washed and hulled
500g high pectin sugar (jam sugar)

Method
Slit the vanilla pod in half lengthways with a sharp knife and scrape down the length of each half to remove the seeds. Put the seeds in a bowl with the strawberries and the sugar. Mush up with the end of a whisk, making sure you leave some chunks of strawberry.

Pour the strawberry mixture into a saucepan and place on a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then turn the heat off, skim any foam or scum off the top of the jam and leave to cool a little. Pour into clean jam jars and allow to cool completely before covering and placing in the fridge. The jam will keep for about a week.

Strawberry ice cream – Nigella’s recipe looks amazing!

Ingredients
500g strawberries
175g caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
500ml full-fat milk
500ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
10 egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method

1. Hull and roughly chop the strawberries, put them into a bowl and sprinkle over the 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and leave them to steep and infuse with flavour.
2. Pour the milk and cream into a heavy-based saucepan, and add the vanilla pod, split down the middle lengthways. Bring the pan nearly to the boil and then take it off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
3. In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks and the 175g sugar until thick and pale yellow. Take the vanilla pod out of the milk and cream and pour, whisking the while, the warm liquid over the yolks. Put the cleaned-out pan back on the heat with the cream, milk, egg and sugar mixture and stir the custard until it thickens, then take it off the heat and pour it into a bowl to cool.
4. Purée the strawberries in a processor, and when the custard is cool fold in the lemon juice and strawberry purée.
5. At this point you can either freeze the ice cream in an ice-cream maker, or in a plastic tub in the freezer. If you do the latter you should whip it out every hour for 3 hours as it freezes and give it a good beating, either with an electric whisk, by hand or in the processer. That gets rid of any ice crystals that form and that make the ice cream crunchy rather than smooth.
ADDITIONAL INFO – Before you begin making the custard fill the sink half full with cold water. If you think the custard looks like splitting at any stage, plunge the pan into the cold water and whisk like mad.

We altered the recipe by cooking it with one chicken breast (it was a big one) and two packets of veg which comes out a bit cheaper. Now that we have the ginger and spices, we can make this a bunch of times for even less than the £2.40 estimated. And of course you can find cheaper veg at Tesco, but I did really enjoy the rainbow mix this recipe called for.

Overall this was so delicious and fresh and the flavours are perfect together. I highly recommend it!

Ingredients:

2 essential Waitrose British chicken breast fillets
1tbsp plain flour
½ tsp Chinese Five Spice (we could only find the paste version, but that was nice too)
1tbsp sunflower oil (we used sesame)
180g bag Waitrose Ready Prepared Rainbow Vegetables
¼ tsp crushed chillies
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
20g piece Chinese Stem Ginger in Syrup, chopped plus 2 tbs syrup

Method:

1. Cut the chicken into thin slices. Mix together the flour, five spice powder and seasoning, then place in a plastic bag. Add in the chicken strips and toss to coat.
2. Heat half the oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the chicken to the pan and stir fry for 3–4 minutes until cooked through, with no pink meat, and golden. Remove and set aside the chicken, then pour the remaining oil into the pan. Add the rainbow vegetables and chillies and fry for 4 minutes until almost tender.
3. Return the chicken to the pan. Add the lemon zest and juice, ginger and syrup and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes to give a sticky sauce. Serve with fresh noodles or steamed rice.

Fruit
At its best: apricots, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon

Coming in: blackcurrants, blueberries, broadbeans, cherries, peaches, redcurrants

Veg
At its best: asparagus, aubergines, courgettes, fennel bulbs, globe artichokes, lamb’s lettuce, lettuce, new potatoes, peas, peppers, radishes, sorrel, spinach, spring greens, watercress

Coming in: basil, beetroot, cavalo nero, garlic, potatoes, samphire, swiss chard

Meat
At its best: lamb

Fish
At its best: crab, halibut, salmon, tuna

Asparagus, herb and gruyère omelette (pictured)

Ingredients
20g (¾oz) asparagus spears
2 large eggs
2tbsp chopped herbs, such as chives and parsley
small knob of butter
20g (¾oz) finely grated Gruyère cheese

Method
Blanch asparagus in boiling salted water for three minutes, drain and finely chop.

Lightly whisk the eggs, season and stir in the herbs.

Sizzle the butter in a small non-stick pan and add the eggs. With a palette knife draw in the cooked egg and tip the pan to allow the runny egg to cook slightly.

Add the cheese and asparagus, fold over the omelette and serve.

Spaghetti salmon primavera

Ingredients
200 g (7oz) spaghetti (we like Finest extra-long spaghetti)
25 g (1oz) frozen petit pois
50 g (2oz) fresh asparagus tips, chopped
200 ml carton Healthy Living crème fraiche
1 spring onion, finely chopped
Ground black pepper
80 g (3oz) smoked salmon trimmings

Method
Cook the pasta according to the instructions.

Meanwhile, cook the peas and asparagus in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain.

Put the crème fraiche into a pan and heat gently, but don’t boil. Add the spring onion, salmon, peas and asparagus and heat until everything is warmed through. Season.

Drain the spaghetti and return to the pan. Pour over the sauce and toss well together. Serve immediately in warm bowls.

Asparagus and tuna tart

Ingredients
500g (1lb)puff pastry
375g (12oz) tuna steak
400g (13oz) asparagus
125g (4oz) quark
1 egg
75ml (3fl oz) milk

Method
Heat oven to Gas 4, 180°C, fan160°C. Brush a 36×12cm (14×5in) loose-bottomed flan tin with a little melted butter.

Roll out the pastry, line the flan tin and place in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes. Mix together the quark, egg and milk until blended and smooth. Cut the asparagus and tuna into lengths that fit the width of the tart case.

Pour in the quark mix and alternately arrange the tuna and asparagus evenly in the case. Place in the lower part of the oven and bake for 30 minutes; reduce the temperature to Gas 3, 170°C, fan150°C, and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with green salad leaves.

To be supportive of E I decided I’d make a game day feast with beef burgers, sweet potato chips (if I can figure out how to make them) and sweetcorn on the cob. But the sweetcorn was £1.99 for two, which seems absolutely outrageous. It dawned on me that sweetcorn is probably out of season and that’s why it was so expensive.

That’s a roundabout way of saying I’m going to start featuring the list of seasonal fruit and veg (and meat and fish) on this site, to remind myself, and you, what we should be buying each month. Hopefully this will help us save a bit of money plus everything always tastes nicer when it is at its peak.

Here is the list for May, courtesy of BBC GoodFood:

Fruit
At its best: apricots, gooseberries, strawberries
Coming in: blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, watermelon

Veg
At its best: asparagus, lamb’s lettuce, lettuce, new potatoes, peas, peppers, radishes, sorrel, spinach, spring greens, watercress
Coming in: aubergines, courgettes, fennel bulbs, globe artichokes

Meat
At its best: lamb

Fish
At its best: crab, halibut, salmon, tuna

Here is the plan:

Click here to get in on the action!

Thanks to Magic Freebies UK for the tip.