day 1 - red ripe raspberries

The raspberry harvest in our county is in full swing.  Did you know that our county produces most of the raspberries grown in the US?  Washington state produces more than 65% of the US raspberries and of that 85% are grown right here in our county.  In fact our county raises the largest per capita crop of red raspberries in the world with 99 growers harvesting over 7,200 acres of raspberries.  During the 6 week harvest over 6,000 seasonal workers harvest the berries.

My son works for one of the larger raspberry farms in our county... during harvest he spends all of the daylight hours and many of the nighttime hours at the fields.  But most of us raspberry lovers think it's worth the efforts of these farmers.

Here at Red Gate farm we're surrounded by raspberry fields and when the loaded trucks drive by they are trailed by the smell of red, ripe raspberries.  Tonight I was extra lucky, while driving home I was behind a raspberry truck... loaded with these little nuggets of gold... the smell was divine, much better than most farm vehicles I get behind in the summer.

Day one down, nine more to go.